ABSTRACT
Japan reached a demographic milestone in 2005 as the number of deaths surpassed the number of births that year. Excluding the war years, this is the first time in the modern Japanese history that the population has decreased. And if the present trend continues it is estimated that by 2050 the country will lose another twenty-seven million people and the total population will decline to one hundred million (National Institute of Population and Social Security Research [NIPSSR]). The Japanese population is aging rapidly as well. In 2010, 23.1 percent of the population will be sixty-five years old. All indications are that this trend will only intensify. In 2050 one in every 2.5 persons will be over sixty-five years old (NIPSSR). In short, Japan leads the world in terms of population loss, and the aging of the population has accelerated much quicker than in other advanced countries.
