Prasompluem Wit

GRIPS ID: MEY19023

27 November 2019

Title of the article: “Defusing the Demographic Time Bomb” (Session 15)

Comment

From this article, I have learned the major elements of Japan’s rapidly aging society situation,
including lower fertility rate, aging of the baby boomers, and the elderly’s greater longevity. By 2009, the
number of over-65-year-old Japanese accounted for 25% of the total population, a figure estimated to
become more than 40% by 2055. By 2040, the elderly (over 65) are projected to outnumber the youth by
four to one. The number of workers sponsoring each senior has decreased significantly from the 1950s.
These are the facts we have often heard about Japan, thus sounding quite worrisome. This article recognizes
the various alarming consequences, but at the same time it argues there are doors of opportunity as well.
What I have learned from the Japanese stories here can be applied to prepare the would-be elderly
population in my country (including myself). As a citizen in the nation with worse doctor-patient ratios,
lower-quality health services, and shrinking government spending on social welfare, I would prepare myself
(and encourage the same-generation citizens to do so) by having a healthy lifestyle so that I could minimize
the chance of having to go to hospital. I would also keep up with new technologies so that when I become
an elderly, I could stand on my own feet (e.g., in entertaining myself, ordering stuff online, and following
the news). As a policymaker, I would encourage the promotion of lifelong learning among the young
generations to make them well-equipped for post-retirement employment in the future.