In 2004, Japan’s population was 127.66 million–the ninth largest in the world. The life expectancy for men in that year was 78.36 and 85.33 for women. Thus, women live on average seven years longer than men. As of September 2004, 931,000 people were over 90 years old and 23,038 people were over 100. The oldest person was 114 years old. The ten oldest persons were all women. The population over 45 years of age was 58 million, which constituted 46% of the total population. The fertility rate in Japan in 1950 had been 3.65 per woman, but fell to 1.35 in 2000 (Japan. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, 2004b). It is predicted that by 2050, Japan’s population will shrink by 27 million. In 2005, 20% of the Japanese population was over 65 years old and this figure will jump to 36%by 2050 (Japan. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, 2004c).
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Ohsako, T. (2009). Working and Lifelong Learning among Older Workers (45+) in Japan: Implications for TVET. In: Maclean, R., Wilson, D. (eds) International Handbook of Education for the Changing World of Work. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5281-1_165
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