Population Trends

As a result of healthier diets and lifestyles, Japanese live longer than most of the world's people. This fact, combined with the trend towards families having fewer children means that Japan is "graying." This is also happening in some European countries and to a lesser extent in the United States, but not nearly as quickly as in Japan. By 2020, as the chart to the right shows, over one quarter of Japanese will be over age 65.

Chart: New York Times.
Photo: Corel Photo CD, "Japan..