Japan’s Aging Population

Aging populations is something faced in every country.  The Wall Street Journal is examining demographics in 2050 as part of Demographic Destiny 2050. WSJ explains it

The year 2050 is right around the corner, and yet it​ is hard to imagine the sweeping changes the world will confront by then. In a multimedia series, The Wall Street Journal helps readers ​envision how we will work, how we will age and how we will live.

Graying Japan Tries to Embrace the Golden Years, an article focusing on Japan,  is accompanied by 360 video as well as the ability to watch in virtual reality. Examining trends and past history of demographics leads some in Japan to be pessimistic about the graying of the population, while others take a different view,

Pessimists say the only way to keep Japan from inexorably drifting into bankruptcy is radical change, like a sudden, sharp influx of immigrants—an unlikely prospect given Japan’s history as one of the world’s most homogeneous cultures.

But a growing number of Japanese executives, policy makers and academics challenge that proposition. They are exploring whether modest adaptations can ease the woes of an aging society, or even turn the burdens into benefits… start[ing] with steering the growing number of healthy 60- and 70-year-olds from retirement into work… point[ing] to new aging-related growth engines, including an automation spending boom to stretch Japan’s declining labor force, and a growing “silver market” of elderly consumers drawing down savings from a lifetime of hard work and thrift….

The article discusses the ups and downs of an elder workforce and the potential of technologies to help workers. It also covers how the increasing aging population impacts the consumer goods market. It’s a fascinating read and I think it would be useful to assign to students.