Twenty-five percent of the population is now estimated to be 65 or older, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry announced ahead of Respect-for-the-Aged Day on Moday.
As of Sunday, the number of elderly people in the nation was a record 31.86 million, an increase of 1.12 million, or 0.9 percentage point, year on year. This is one in four of every Japanese.
The ministry attributed this situation to the fact that baby boomers are beginning to reach the age of 65.
By gender, the number of elderly men stood at 13.69 million and that of women at 18.18 million, accounting for 22.1 percent of all men and 27.8 percent of women.
The number of people aged 80 or older rose by 380,000 from one year ago to 9.3 million, exceeding the 9 million mark for the first time. The number of people aged 70-74 increased by 610,000 to 23.17 million, while the number of people aged 75-79 rose by 430,000 to 15.6 million.
