Japan faces reality of elderly caring for older parents

Nearly one 3rd of population of Japan, oldest country in world by age, is made up of people 65 or older

Feb 04 (AA) - Japan may be on track to becoming a "land of grandparents," as birth rates falls and its elderly population swells.

Last year saw annual births falling below 800,000 for the first time in the country, while as of the beginning of this year, just 11.6% of its 124.77 million population was up to 14 years old.

This is compared to 29% aged 65 years or older, the highest share of elderly population in any country, followed by Italy with 24.1% and Finland with 23.3%.

According to the data by the Japanese Interior and Communications Ministry in 2022, the number of people aged 75 years and up rose to 19.3 million, while those 65 and up increased to 36.2 million.

Data from 2021 by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry showed that the number of people over the age of 100 in the country exceeded 86,000 after rising for 51 years straight. ...continue reading

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