Silver Hues - Building Age-Ready Cities : Japan Background Paper
Japan’s shift toward a super-aged society is being fueled by a combination of demographic factors. These include declining marriage and fertility rates and increases in life expectancy enabled by advances in medical science and improved nutrition a...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2022
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099620005252230269/P172017079371c0860ae850c8c42429c031 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37478 |
| Summary: | Japan’s shift toward a super-aged
society is being fueled by a combination of demographic
factors. These include declining marriage and fertility
rates and increases in life expectancy enabled by advances
in medical science and improved nutrition and living
conditions. Another trend is the rise in the number of older
single-person or couple households as a result of various
lifestyle and demographic changes, including a general
decrease in average household size, the rise of smaller
nuclear households, and the growing number of people who
remain unmarried. The socioeconomic challenges arising from
an aging and declining population have been at the forefront
of Japan’s political and public policy discourse since the
rapid population aging trend was first recognized in the
1980s. Central to the aging population challenge is the
decline in working-age population, which could lead to labor
force shortages and lower economic growth. Recognition of
these growing challenges has engendered a shift in aging
policy toward aging in place and healthy aging, with older
persons encouraged to remain active and in their existing
communities for as long as possible. The idea is not only to
improve the well-being of older persons and their quality of
life, but also to reduce the burden on the state of
providing for the burgeoning health and welfare needs of a
super-aged population. Japan has implemented several
policies, guidelines, and programs to promote healthy aging.
Japanese authorities and cities are implementing several
projects in housing and homebased care to facilitate aging
in place. Some of these projects are reviewed in this report. |
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