Society Japan: a nation of old people

[thomas]

What happens in Japan today shows what will soon occur in many other areas of the world.

With nearly 30 per cent of its people 65 and over, Japan has the oldest population on Earth (except tiny Monaco). Its median age of 48.7 far exceeds the world's, at 30.2. Other countries are also ageing quickly, particularly high-income ones in Europe and East Asia. South Korea is growing older at an accelerated pace; the proportion of its population that's elderly could surpass Japan's by 2046.

In this very insightful article, National Geographic looks at septuagenarian doctors to whom the word 'retirement' does not exist, shop owners working at the age of 97, an 84-year-old geisha still performing and teaching, deserted villages where octogenarians carry the groceries of nonagenarians, demented couples spending their twilight years forgotten in the urban bustle surrounding them, and empty rural primary schools populated by dolls representing former students.

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This a touching article with captivating imagery!

Japan confronts a stark reality: a nation of old people

Nearly every aspect of the country’s life is changing to adapt to the growing elderly population, from its public spaces to its social policies.

www.nationalgeographic.com

 

[Majestic]

bookmarked for later reading. a topic that is becoming more and more close to me with each year.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

I think I'm there already.

 

[Paint_Black]

well...i think old people are extremely mega cool.
they know a lot and deserve a worthy job-industry, health care and high standarts of conviniences.

still...
there are always a bureaucratic problem with proffessional creating of workplaces for all ages.
humanity got only few schematics of personnel engineering and....there are corruption woth "money sprinkling" excluded.

so almost nobody would care about this. nothing new.

the second big and deep problem (my theory) is an abortions. but got no intel about it.
anybody knows anythin' about it? halp)

 

[nice gaijin]

well...i think old people are extremely mega cool.
they know a lot and deserve a worthy job-industry, health care and high standarts of conviniences.

still...
there are always a bureaucratic problem with proffessional creating of workplaces for all ages.
humanity got only few schematics of personnel engineering and....there are corruption woth "money sprinkling" excluded.

so almost nobody would care about this. nothing new.

Old people may be "extremely mega cool," but they can't hold up a country or economy on their own, nor should they be expected to. The declining birth rate is a major problem for Japan in a ton of ways, as mentioned in the article this thread is about. Did you read it? You can bypass the paywall by turning off Javascript.

I honestly don't understand what the rest of your comment meant.

the second big and deep problem (my theory) is an abortions. but got no intel about it.
anybody knows anythin' about it? halp)

Your hunch is completely wrong. According to the statistics here, abortion rates have dropped significantly and overwhelmingly happen for health reasons, meaning it's already downward-trending and there isn't much wiggle room to reasonably reduce it further:

Overall, in 2019, the total number of abortions officially reported was 156,430,[10] representing a 56 percent decrease from the number reported for 2000. The overall abortion rate changed from 22.3 to 15.3 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-39 years. Going further back, there were 598,084 abortions in 1980 and 1,063,256 in 1960.[10] In 2019, 49 abortions were reported for women aged 13 and under, and a further 3,904 for women aged 14–17. Some 39,805 abortions were performed on women aged 20-24.[10]

In 2020, according to the health ministry, there were 145,340 abortions, down 7.3% from the previous year.[3]

According to researchers, in more than 99 percent of cases, the reason reported for performing an abortion was to protect the woman's health; this percentage remained constant during 1975–1995.[11] The same researchers also suggest that while official figures may be lower than the true rate of abortion due to under-reporting by doctors in order to lower tax bills and protect patient identities, trends may be "reasonably accurate".[11]

Even if you stopped all abortions in Japan completely, not only would it make a negligible impact on the rate of decline, it would introduce new problems like forcing women to undergo dangerous or deadly pregnancies when you can't afford to lose potential mothers, and greatly increase the cost of delivering those babies, many of whom are likely unviable or will themselves require expensive care. If the goal is to reduce the burden and cost to the nation, you're barking up the wrong tree.

They aren't the only country with this issue, but like the Maldives facing rising water levels, Japan is showing us a future other first-world countries will face as our populations age.

 

[johnnyG]

related article:

What Statistics Can’t Capture About the Global Baby Bust

Falling fertility has been hard to reverse, despite so many governments’ best efforts, because it’s not one thing, it’s everything.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Grandpa Frank]

Maybe we need to start putting the "little blue pill" in everyone's water supply?

 

[mdchachi]

Declining birth rates are not the culprit. The bigger reason for demographics skewing towards the elderly is that people are living a lot longer than they ever have in human history. We are in unprecedented territory. Just a generation or two ago, anybody who hit 65 had made it to old age. 80+ were outliers. My dad should have been dead before I was born. Modern medicine -- anti-biotics, open heart surgery -- allowed him to make it to 73.

 

[Lothor]

Paint Black - I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that Japan is a gerontocracy. Many company presidents and politicians stay on way beyond the age at which they are capable of doing the job well (I do some work for a company whose president will be 80 this year!). They tend to be risk averse, out of touch with technological developments in their field as well as with the progress being made in workplace practices, and have little idea of how things are for ordinary people or interest in finding out. These people are largely responsible for Japan's stagnation. They made their money during the Bubble era and have clung on to their wealth and power while allowing the wages of employees to stagnate, and they have taken advantage of a hierarchical system that forces people to be deferential to age and rank, making it almost impossible to oust them. Wealth needs to flow for a successful economy and society, and these people have choked the flow of wealth.

There is a segment of elderly people in Japan who are definitely not megacool!

 

[Grandpa Frank]

Thoughts about growing old...

 

[Petaris]

Declining birth rates are not the culprit. The bigger reason for demographics skewing towards the elderly is that people are living a lot longer than they ever have in human history. We are in unprecedented territory. Just a generation or two ago, anybody who hit 65 had made it to old age. 80+ were outliers. My dad should have been dead before I was born. Modern medicine -- anti-biotics, open heart surgery -- allowed him to make it to 73.

View attachment 100674

I suspect its both actually. There are definitely issues with declining birthrate as well.