Japan’s elderly population hits record high

An elderly woman is photographed at a day care facility for senior citizens in Tokyo on April 6, 2022. FILE PHOTO/Agence France-Presse

TOKYO — The number of people in Japan aged 65 or older hit a record high of 36.25 million this year, government data shows, as the country contends with one of the world’s fastest-aging societies.

The elderly now account for 29.3 percent of Japan’s total population, also a new high, according to data released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications on Sunday.

The ministry said the proportion of elderly residents put Japan at the top of the list of 200 countries and regions with a population of over 100,000.

READ: One in 10 Japanese are older than 80–government data

Italy, Portugal, Greece, Finland, Germany and Croatia represented Europe in the top 10, with rates of over 20 percent.

South Korea stood at 19.3 percent and China 14.7 percent.

Japan is facing a steadily worsening population crisis, as its expanding elderly population leads to soaring medical and welfare costs, with a shrinking labour force to pay for it.

READ: Elderly living alone to make up a fifth of Japanese households by 2050

The country’s overall population shrank by 595,000 to 124 million, according to previous government data.

Sunday’s data showed that 9.14 million elderly people were employed in 2023, also a record.

They represent 13.5 percent of the total workforce — or one employee in seven.

The Japanese government has attempted to slow the decline and ageing of its population without meaningful success.