ABSTRACT
One of the particular problems of aging from an international point of view which Japan confronts is the speed of aging. According to UN statistics, the advanced countries’ average proportion of elderly is 11.4% in 1980 whereas for the developing countries it is only 4.8%. In general the pace to aging society is estimated according to the number of years necessary to transit from 7% to 14% of total population. According to this scale, the country which has transited most gradually is France. The first effect of the changing population structure is the aging of the active population. As the aging of the population progresses, the proportion of middle-aged adults in the active population increases and the proportion of young adults decreases. The second effect is that the burden of social support becomes increasingly heavier. The third effect is that the aging of population advances particularly in urban areas. Japan has developed through industrialization.
