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This Week in AsiaPeople

From dementia to jobs, does Japan’s ageing society hold the secret to growing old gracefully?

  • Forget the warnings of ticking time bombs and demographic crises just for a moment – there are positives to having the ‘world’s oldest population’, too
  • Japan is leading the way for other ageing societies in areas such as welfare funding, dementia care and social initiatives for the retired

Reading Time:9 minutes
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Japan has the world’s oldest population. Pictured: Japanese ‘girl band’ KBG84. Photo: AFP
Jovi HoandNeo Rong Wei
The story of Japan’s ageing population is often repeated like a tired old tale.
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“Ticking time bomb” and “demographic crisis” are the kind of phrases that usually feature as the country with the “world’s oldest population” is held up as a cautionary example of what Asia’s other developed economies can expect in their dotage.

The chief bogeyman is economic decay. As birth rates fall and life expectancies grow, experts warn that Japan’s dwindling pool of taxpaying young workers will slowly be overwhelmed by the burden of financing the health care needs of the growing legions of elderly. And, so the story goes, where Japan leads, other big economies with falling birth rates – Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and mainland China among them – will follow.

That’s how the pessimists see it. But there’s another, more positive side to the Japanese experience. As its population matures, the country is making strides in caring for this growing segment of society, quietly leading its peers in areas such as welfare funding, dementia care and social initiatives for the retired.

Could it be that, much as in the 1980s other countries sought to emulate Japan’s ground-breaking technology sector, they might one day be following its lead in how to grow old gracefully?

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WHO ARE YOU CALLING A TIME BOMB?

That the country is in line for a fundamental shift isn’t in question. With the population decline accelerating, the Japanese government estimates its population – currently around 127 million – will fall to just over 100 million by 2050. Last year, the fertility rate was just 1.42 – far below the 2.1 needed to maintain a steady population.

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