The share of the elderly population of Japan by September 2021 reached 29.1 percent of all residents of the country, which is a record-size in its entire history. This is reported by the Japanese edition of Mainichi with reference to the national government data.
Also, the elderly amounted to 13.6 percent of all working citizens of Japan by the end of 2020. The publication characterizes the results as “another evidence of the rapid aging of society.” As a “elderly” in Japan, citizens of 65 years are considered. Their number for September amounted to 36.4 million people, which is 220 thousand more than in 2020.
The data provided the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications for the Day of Older Persons. According to the Office, Japan has delivered a world record for the aging of the population. Second place belongs to Italy, where older people make up 23.6 percent, the third – Portugal (23.1 percent).
15.83 million men and 20.57 million women aged 65 and older live in the country. At the end of 2020, out of 9.06 million older Japanese, 5.39 million, were men. The number of people aged 80 and older amounted to 12.06 million, which is 460 thousand more than a year earlier.
The number of people aged 90 years and older reached 25.9 million, including 80 thousand long-livers. According to forecasts of the Japanese National Institute for Population and Social Security Research, the elderly will amount to 30 percent of the entire population of Japan by 2025 and 35.3 percent – by 2040.
For 2020, Japan was the second country for the employment of elderly population in the world according to OECD. The organization estimates that while working in the country 25.1 percent of citizens 65 years and older. The leader’s country, South Korea, was 34.1 percent, and in the United States and Canada, it was 18 percent and 12.8 percent.