SURE, BUT OTHER THAN THAT...:

Japan's age 90 and older crowd now tops 1 million (Japan Times, 6/04/05)

The number of people aged 90 or older topped 1 million for the first time in 2004, according to a government white paper released Friday.

The 2005 white paper on the elderly says the number of people aged 90 or older totaled 1,016,000, including about 23,000 centenarians.

The report says the number of people aged 65 and older totaled 24.88 million as of Oct. 1, accounting for a record 19.5 percent of the nation's population, up 0.5 percentage point from a previous percentage-share record registered in 2003.

The graying population and low birthrate threaten to leave the world's second-largest economy with a labor shortage, erode the tax base and strain the pension system as fewer taxpayers try to support the expanding elderly population.

The white paper says the population will probably shrink due to the falling birthrate. Earlier this week, the government said the birthrate remained at a record low, with women giving birth to an average of 1.29 children.