Elderly Seen Topping 30% in 44 Prefs in 2035

Reviewed by Takahiro MIYAO

Article:
Elderly Seen Topping 30% in 44 Prefs in 2035
Daily Yomiuri (5/31/2007)
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070531TDY03001.htm

Comments:

This article may look like a dry and formal piece, just repeating some well-known facts based on recent official statistics about Japan’s aging society, as suggested by its title – we somehow know that one third of the population will be 65 or older almost everywhere in the nation within the next thirty years or so. Many people seem to be resigned to accept this kind of fact and try to make the best out of it.

After having read this article to the end, however, one could be shocked or even frightened by the seemingly unstoppable trend of population movement to Tokyo from the rest of the nation, as there will be only two regions, namely, Tokyo and Okinawa Prefecture, maintaining or increasing population, while the remaining 45 prefectures will lose their population by 2035, according to recent estimates by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research. This means that in spite of all the efforts made by the public and private sectors to revitalize local cities and regions, Tokyo will continue to attract young and old alike from local regions, and probably from overseas as well, at least in the next 30 years or so.

In fact, it is reported in the end of this article that a spokesman of the Institute warned of an increasing age gap between big cities, particularly Tokyo, and rural areas in Japan, and this might well be closely associated with increasing disparities in terms of income, employment, productivity, infrastructure, social amenities, etc., unless some drastic policy measures to reverse the current trend of population movement are taken by the central and local governments now.

Acknowledgment:
This review is adopted from the following blog (with its Japanese translation):
http://glocom.blog59.fc2.com/blog-date-20070531.html