EASE OFF THE GAS PEDAL, THELMA:

Graying Japan needs a road map (The Japan Times, Nov. 18, 2003)

Fittingly, this year's economic white paper deals with this problem in a chapter headed "Challenges to the Aging and Falling Population." The report says the nation's "total fertility rate" -- the average number of babies a woman is expected to bear in her lifetime -- has been declining since 1947 when it had reached its peak of 4.54.

The rate has since continued to drop, hitting a record low of 1.32 in 2002. Demographers say a woman needs to bear more than two babies on average if the nation's population is to remain at its existing level. Given the continuing fall in the fertility rate, they say, the population will begin shrinking after 2006 when it is expected to peak at slightly above 127.7 million.

The elderly population, meanwhile, has been growing rapidly. Those who are 65 and older already make up more than 18 percent of the total population. An international comparison shows Japanese society has been aging a lot faster than in other industrialized societies. In France, it took 115 years before the proportion of the elderly increased to 14 percent from 7 percent. In Germany and Britain, it took 40 to 50 years. In Japan, it took only 24 years.

Which explains why most of the industrial world is embracing euthanasia.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 17, 2003 11:41 PM