How will socialized nations pay for the elderly? There are not enough children to support the welfare state they have built.
At some point, the Ponzi scheme of transferring wealth from the young to old will fail. Via Reuters:
The number of people aged 65 and above has risen to a record high of 27.7 percent of Japan’s population, government figures showed.
Significantly, those in this age category who still work has also hit a record, highlighting efforts by the public and private sectors to keep more elderly in the workforce longer to battle labor shortages.
The government estimates, released on Monday, are a stark reminder of the challenges posed by years of a declining birthrate, which is now at 1.45 births per woman. Many economists say a developed country needs a birthrate slightly above 2.0 to prevent its population from shrinking.
Japan has been struggling with a declining workforce for decades, and its elderly ratio is the highest among Group of Seven nations, followed by Italy at 23.0 percent, Germany at 21.5 percent, and France at 19.7 percent.
Official figures showed 35.14 million Japanese people were 65 or older, with 7.7 million of them holding down jobs. The number of people aged 90 or above also topped two million for the first time.
Natsu Naruse, a participant in the exercise who recently turned 100 years old, encapsulated Japan’s challenge.
“I think my children would have trouble,” if I lived longer, she said.