Who Will Take Care of the Elderly in Japan?

GROUP2 DAY4

NANCY LOPEZ HODGSON

İBRAHİM ÇAĞRI MUSLU

SHEN CHIH MEI

Births In Japan 1900-2012

Fertility rate, total (births per woman)

1.3 births/per woman

Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population)

Age dependency ratio is the ratio of dependents--people younger than 15 or older than 64--to the working-age population--those ages 15-64. Data are shown as the proportion of dependents per 100 working-age population.

Population ages 65 and above (% of total)

Today, more than a quarter of Japan's population is aged over 65. This is set to increase to 40% by 2055, when the population will have shrunk from the current 127 million to 90 million.

Working population

• That will leave Japan with fewer workers to support each oldster. Back in 1950, Japan had 10 workers to support each senior. By 2000, that had fallen to 3.6; in 2025, the ratio will be just 1.9.

Beside fewer labor forces… (1/3)

The expenditure of medical care get higher.

480 billion (9.8%)

2018 = 10%

Beside fewer labor forces… (2/3)

Spending waves gone.

Beside fewer labor forces… (3/3)

Elderly criminal Elderly

crime rate doubled between 2003 - 2013

Elderly > young

1 in 5 inmates in Japanese prisons is over the age of 60

Who will take care of dependents?

1.Immigration2.Female labor

Immigration

Japan is still one of the most ethnically homogeneous countries in the world, with foreigners making up less than 2% of the population.

Having to pass the national exam in Japanese is incredibly difficult and only 304 foreign nurses and carers have so far managed to make Japan their temporary home.

They would be required to go home after 3~5 years.

Women, work and give birth

70% of Japanese women leave the workforce to give birth; fewer than half of them are able to re-start their careers.

Good childcare options would also encourage Japanese women to have more children, which would help boost the ratio of old people to young ones.

Another concept- care robot

They deliver drugs and clean linens and meals while carting away medical waste and soiled sheets and trash.

robotic bear (Robear)

robot can carry people help them stand

and assist with other basic

tasks

Communication-type robots

Residents of the Fuyouen senior home interact with tiny robot Palro and two Paro therapy bots

Benefit

More labor forces Encourage consuming Encourage businesses spending more in researching &

designing Economic activities increase

Defect-Girlfriend robot

Lower marriageLower birth rate Lower population

and so on…moral controversy

Conclusion

Robot is an assistant, not a permanent solution for Japan’s economy.

Embrace immigrants The most fundamental : encourage the birth rate