Population Challenges
Japan has a very high dependency load at 35%. The population over 65 is roughly 22%. This is huge compared to a country like the United States, where the population over 65 is only 13% (CIA). With an elderly population, there are less workers (because 65 is the retirement age for most countries), and more people taking care of the elderly, so less production and work done for the country. Also, with more older people, there are less younger people that are able to reproduce and replace the pre-existing population.
In the population pyramids below, you can see the dramatic incline in the elderly population from the years 1990 to 2010 (especially on the female side), and the projection for 2050, where there will almost be no children and many people over 65. The fact that Japan has the highest average elderly population in the world (around 86) does not help because the longer they live, the longer they must be supported. In the 2050 projection, 80+ is about 13%, probably due to Japans elderly health care.
Another population problem in Japan is that there is a very low immigration rate into Japan, about zero per every hundred. With low immigration, there isn't a very culturally diverse population, unlike in Canada, where almost the entire population is made of immigrants. (CIA)
In the population pyramids below, you can see the dramatic incline in the elderly population from the years 1990 to 2010 (especially on the female side), and the projection for 2050, where there will almost be no children and many people over 65. The fact that Japan has the highest average elderly population in the world (around 86) does not help because the longer they live, the longer they must be supported. In the 2050 projection, 80+ is about 13%, probably due to Japans elderly health care.
Another population problem in Japan is that there is a very low immigration rate into Japan, about zero per every hundred. With low immigration, there isn't a very culturally diverse population, unlike in Canada, where almost the entire population is made of immigrants. (CIA)
The biggest population problem in Japan is that Japan has become a stage 5 country in demographic development. The Death rate is finally higher than the birth rate so the population will slowly fall until Japan is gone. This graph shows the birth rate compared to the death rate and you can see that even though the deaths stay about the same, the births are sinking and in the year 2005, they finally went under the death rate at about 8.5 per thousand.