The Graying of Japan: The End of Growth?

Abstract

Among the wrenching transitions that are changing the very basis of the Japanese economy, none is more dramatic and none more certain than the transition from a rapidly growing and youthful population to a rapidly declining and aging population. Having nearly tripled in the 20th century, Japan’s population may reduce by half in the 21st century. For very long, the conventional Western view saw Japan as over-populated, a terribly crowded country suffering from lack of space for living, for farming, and for recreation. Now, in nice irony, Japan’s decline in population is being viewed with alarm.