Over 1/4 of Japan's population aged over 65

Japan's population is aging at unprecedented levels, with over 1/4 Japanese people aged 65 or older as of Oct.1 last year, creating challenges for the government and economy, showed government statistics on Wednesday.

Japan's population aged 65 or older reached 33.42 million as of Oct.1, 2015, accounting for 26.7 percent of the whole population, the highest since the survey was first carried out in 1920, according to the result of 2015 census released by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry.

The survey also showed the overall population in Japan was 127.11 million as of Oct.1 last year, down 0.7 percent from that of 2010, the first decline since 1920.

Meanwhile, population aged below 15 stood at 15.86 million, down by 0.5 percentage point to 12.7 percent of the total population, recording the lowest since 1920.

In all of the country's 47 prefectures, the population of senior people aged 65 or older exceeded junior people aged below 15 for the first time since 1920.

Japan's population is likely to further decline to 83 million by 2100, with 35 percent of them older than 65, according to estimations by government and international bodies like the United Nations.
 [Xinhua -globaltimes.cn]
30/6/16