By Staff Reporter
Copyright macaonews
Japan’s elderly now account for a record 29.4 percent of the population, a figure expected to grow considerably as the second baby boom generation enters old age in the coming decades, reports The Japan Times.
Figures released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications on Sunday, a day before Japan marked Respect for the Aged Day, show that the population of people 65 and older shrunk in absolute terms for the first time in two years. However, despite losing 50,000 people since last year, down to 36.19 million, their portion of the total Japanese population increased by 0.1 percentage point.
The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research projects Japan’s senior population will climb to 34.8 percent of the total, some 39.28 million people, by 2040 as the youngest members of the 1971-74 second baby boom generation enter old age.
Japan currently has the highest share of people 65 and older among nations of 40 million or more, although it is far from alone in its ageing population. The UN Population Division projects that the global elderly population will double over the next three decades, hitting 1.6 billion in 2050.
[See more: In 2024, deaths outnumbered births by almost a million in Japan]
The number of women aged 65 and older totals 20.51 million, accounting for 56.67 percent of Japan’s elderly population and nearly a third (32.4 percent) of its female population. Elderly men, totalling 15.68 million, account for over a quarter (26.2 percent) of all Japanese men.
Ministry figures also show a record number of elderly Japanese hold jobs, growing for the 21st consecutive year to hit 9.3 million. That means that one in four elderly people work, and one in seven Japanese workers are elderly.
Most work in the wholesale and retail sectors (1.33 million), medical and welfare sectors (1.15 million) or the services industry (1.04 million). The number of elderly workers has increased across nearly all sectors in the last decade, although the ministry noted that most are part-time or contract employees
Revisions made to the industrial safety and health law in May oblige companies to improve working conditions for senior employees due to the increased risk of work-related injuries as people age.
