Japan's population stood at 128,057,352 as of Oct. 1, 2010, up 0.2 percent from five years earlier, marking the slowest growth since the once-in-five-years census began in 1920, the final results of the survey showed Wednesday.
When non-Japanese residents are excluded, the population dropped by about 371,000, or 0.3 percent, decreasing for the first time since 1975, when it began compiling the population of Japanese citizens separately from non-Japanese, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said.
"While Japan has entered an era of population decline, its total population has been flat because of an increase in foreign nationals," a ministry official said.
The number of non-Japanese residents rose 5.9 percent, or about 93,000.
Japan remains the 10th most populous nation, accounting for 1.9 percent of the world's population, according to a U.N. population estimate for 2010.
The male population stood at 62,327,737, while the female population came to 65,729,615.
Those aged 65 or older numbered about 29,246,000, accounting for 23.0 percent of the total population, up from 20.2 percent in the previous census. The country's graying trend stayed at the top level in the world, surpassing Germany and Italy.
In contrast, those below 15 accounted for 13.2 percent of the population, down 0.6 percentage point, confirming that the population of the young is shrinking as the country grays rapidly.
The number of households rose 4.8 percent from 2005 to 51,950,504, topping the 50 million mark for the first time ever, but the average number of members per household hit an all-time low of 2.42, the report showed.
The number of single-member households stood at around 16,785,000, comprising more than 30 percent of the total households for the first time.
Of Japan's 47 prefectures, population increased only in nine -- including Tokyo and Okinawa -- while it declined in the rest. Six prefectures -- Tochigi, Shizuoka, Mie, Kyoto, Hyogo and Okayama -- saw their population growth turn negative.
At the municipal level, population decreased in 1,321 cities, towns and villages, or 76.4 percent of all the country's municipalities.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20111027p2g00m0dm003000c.html
Showing posts with label japanese demographics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label japanese demographics. Show all posts
Friday, October 28, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
2010 - Number of children aged under 15 in Japan has fallen to the lowest level since records began in the 1950s,
The number of children aged under 15 in Japan has fallen to the lowest level since records began in the 1950s, as the population as a whole gets older and smaller, the government said Monday.
There were an estimated 16.93 million children as of April 1, down 90,000 from a year earlier, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said.
The estimate was based on 2010 national census data.
Children accounted for 13.2 per cent of the population, the ministry said. In contrast, the ratio of people aged 65 or older was a record-high 23.2 per cent.
Of the 27 countries with a population of at least 40 million, Japan had the lowest ratio of children to the total population -- compared with 20.1 per cent for the United States and 18.5 per cent for China, the ministry said.
"The ratio of children kept declining since the first baby boom (1947-1949) to reach about one fourth of the total population in 1965, reflecting a decline in the number of new-born babies," the ministry said.
After the second baby boom (1971-1974), the ratio fell back again to slip below 15.7 per cent for people aged 65 or older in 1997, it added.
The ministry said in February that Japan's population stood at 128.06 million as of last October 1 and that it was expected to roughly halve on current trends to 60 million by 2100.
The population has been declining year-on-year since 2007.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-05-02/news/29496267_1_baby-boom-population-ratio
Monday, May 31, 2010
2012 D-Day for Japanese National Debt Crisis?
Japan may lose its ability to domestically finance its debt “in a few years” because of a surge of retirees in 2012, according to an analyst at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute.
“The key year for public finances will be 2012, as the baby boomers retire and begin collecting their pensions en masse,” Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute, said yesterday in an interview in Tokyo. “That may be when Japan’s sovereign risk becomes evident.”
Japan, the largest borrower among developed nations, has yet to face a Greece-like fiscal crisis because it has been able to finance most of its spending at home, Nagahama said. The first of Japan’s baby boomers will turn 65 in 2012, making them eligible for pension payments.
About 8 million, or 6 percent of the population, were born between 1947 and 1949, regarded as the baby boomer generation in Japan, government data show. Almost 23 percent of the nation’s 126 million people will be older than 65 this year, the highest proportion in the world, according to Bloomberg data.
More retirees will lead to a “rapid” surge in the natural growth of the government’s social security burden, which tracks the yearly increase of costs as a result of the aging population, Nagahama said. Costs will rise 2.5 trillion yen annually by 2013, he forecasts, more than double the 1.09 trillion yen growth the government is projecting for this fiscal year.
Retirees will also begin to draw on their savings, according to Nagahama. “If the value of household assets drops, or if it doesn’t fall but doesn’t rise either even as public debt continues to grow, the Japanese won’t be able to finance” government spending on their own, he said.
More than 90 percent of Japan’s government bonds are held by domestic investors. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s Cabinet is scheduled to unveil in June a plan to reduce a debt burden that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates is at twice the size of the economy.
Public debt totaled a record 882.9 trillion yen ($9.5 trillion) as of March 31, up 4.3 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said this week. Households’ financial assets stood at 1,456 trillion yen as of Dec. 31, Bank of Japan figures show.
Japan may need to depend more on foreign buyers of its bonds in the long term, a Finance Ministry official said today.
“Given Japan’s demographics, the current account surplus may decrease and some even say it will go into deficit, although it’s hard to predict when that would happen,” Masaaki Kaizuka, director of debt management at the ministry, said at a conference in Tokyo. “We may see the need to increase reliance from abroad whether we want to or not.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=aFLZv1XQPInU&pid=20601087
“The key year for public finances will be 2012, as the baby boomers retire and begin collecting their pensions en masse,” Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute, said yesterday in an interview in Tokyo. “That may be when Japan’s sovereign risk becomes evident.”
Japan, the largest borrower among developed nations, has yet to face a Greece-like fiscal crisis because it has been able to finance most of its spending at home, Nagahama said. The first of Japan’s baby boomers will turn 65 in 2012, making them eligible for pension payments.
About 8 million, or 6 percent of the population, were born between 1947 and 1949, regarded as the baby boomer generation in Japan, government data show. Almost 23 percent of the nation’s 126 million people will be older than 65 this year, the highest proportion in the world, according to Bloomberg data.
More retirees will lead to a “rapid” surge in the natural growth of the government’s social security burden, which tracks the yearly increase of costs as a result of the aging population, Nagahama said. Costs will rise 2.5 trillion yen annually by 2013, he forecasts, more than double the 1.09 trillion yen growth the government is projecting for this fiscal year.
Retirees will also begin to draw on their savings, according to Nagahama. “If the value of household assets drops, or if it doesn’t fall but doesn’t rise either even as public debt continues to grow, the Japanese won’t be able to finance” government spending on their own, he said.
More than 90 percent of Japan’s government bonds are held by domestic investors. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s Cabinet is scheduled to unveil in June a plan to reduce a debt burden that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates is at twice the size of the economy.
Public debt totaled a record 882.9 trillion yen ($9.5 trillion) as of March 31, up 4.3 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said this week. Households’ financial assets stood at 1,456 trillion yen as of Dec. 31, Bank of Japan figures show.
Japan may need to depend more on foreign buyers of its bonds in the long term, a Finance Ministry official said today.
“Given Japan’s demographics, the current account surplus may decrease and some even say it will go into deficit, although it’s hard to predict when that would happen,” Masaaki Kaizuka, director of debt management at the ministry, said at a conference in Tokyo. “We may see the need to increase reliance from abroad whether we want to or not.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?sid=aFLZv1XQPInU&pid=20601087
Japanese Demographics
Japan's population is forecast to dwindle to less than 90 million by 2055 and the percentage of elderly (people at least 65 years old) will rise to 40.5 percent, according to median forecasts by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.
The proportion of those in the productive age bracket of 15 to 64 will fall to 51.1 percent of the total population, nearly equal to those in the nonproductive age brackets — namely, children up to 14 and the "elderly" (those 65 or older).
As recently as 2005, the elderly accounted for 20.2 percent of the total population while those of productive age, 66.1 percent. This means that one elderly person was supported by two of productive age. In 2055, however, everybody of productive age may have to support one elderly person.
Furthermore, recent statistics show that the proportion of those in the productive age bracket who are willing to work has fallen to slightly more than 60 percent — around 70 percent for men and slightly less than 50 percent for women. All these changes are bound to present a number of serious problems.
First of all, spending for medical services and nursing care will skyrocket as a percentage of household expenditure... It will reduce household disposable income because money paid for medical and nursing care services constitutes "necessary expenses" just like income tax and other burdens.
As a result, the average household will spend less on goods and services and more on items related to medical and nursing care services, presenting an utterly gloomy future for nearly all industry segments — except hospitals, homes for the elderly and pharmaceutical manufacturers.
The second problem is that many people are forced to stop working at the "retirement" age of 60 by most corporations, even when they are willing to keep working. It has been demonstrated that people in their 60s are often in the prime of their career, making it all the more desirable to raise the corporate retirement age.
Demographic statistics released by the welfare ministry show that, in 2007, average life expectancy for 75-year-olds was 11.3 years for men and 15.2 years for women. This means that for the average worker, all the money earned during 40 years of hard work will have to be spent for accommodations in a home for the elderly during the final 10-plus years of his or her life.
In the not-too-distant future, stem cell and other advanced medical technologies are likely to extend life expectancy at least five years, which will only increase the amount of upfront money needed to get into a home for the elderly.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20100510ts.html
The proportion of those in the productive age bracket of 15 to 64 will fall to 51.1 percent of the total population, nearly equal to those in the nonproductive age brackets — namely, children up to 14 and the "elderly" (those 65 or older).
As recently as 2005, the elderly accounted for 20.2 percent of the total population while those of productive age, 66.1 percent. This means that one elderly person was supported by two of productive age. In 2055, however, everybody of productive age may have to support one elderly person.
Furthermore, recent statistics show that the proportion of those in the productive age bracket who are willing to work has fallen to slightly more than 60 percent — around 70 percent for men and slightly less than 50 percent for women. All these changes are bound to present a number of serious problems.
First of all, spending for medical services and nursing care will skyrocket as a percentage of household expenditure... It will reduce household disposable income because money paid for medical and nursing care services constitutes "necessary expenses" just like income tax and other burdens.
As a result, the average household will spend less on goods and services and more on items related to medical and nursing care services, presenting an utterly gloomy future for nearly all industry segments — except hospitals, homes for the elderly and pharmaceutical manufacturers.
The second problem is that many people are forced to stop working at the "retirement" age of 60 by most corporations, even when they are willing to keep working. It has been demonstrated that people in their 60s are often in the prime of their career, making it all the more desirable to raise the corporate retirement age.
Demographic statistics released by the welfare ministry show that, in 2007, average life expectancy for 75-year-olds was 11.3 years for men and 15.2 years for women. This means that for the average worker, all the money earned during 40 years of hard work will have to be spent for accommodations in a home for the elderly during the final 10-plus years of his or her life.
In the not-too-distant future, stem cell and other advanced medical technologies are likely to extend life expectancy at least five years, which will only increase the amount of upfront money needed to get into a home for the elderly.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20100510ts.html
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