FOREWORD
Our country, Japan, occupies a unique position among the countries of the world. Our population is aging the fastest and will soon start
to drop in numbers. With the 21st century close upon us, our society is facing the challenge of restructuring the entire social system.
To present the current state of social conditions and people's consciousness in Japan to people in other countries, we have released a second edition of the data book "The Statistical Abstracts of Aging in Japan." The first one published in January 1996 has been utilized by many experts in European, North American, Asian, and African countries.
This new version has basic data from the fields of population, households, employment, health and social welfare, daily activities, social participation, housing conditions, and a regional overview. Most of the statistics are based on statistical publications available from the government.
This book is also designed as a set along with the book, "Aging in Japan" which is a comprehensive information on Japan's aging society, prepared by Japan Aging Research Center (JARC). In addition, for further statistical data on aging society in Japan, we recommend that you refer to the "Japan Statistical Data on Aging: 1995-1996" (in Japanese) prepared by JARC.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Dr. Shigesato Takahashi
(National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, Ministry of Health and Welfare) who was responsible for general supervision and compilation of this book.
Finally our special thanks go to the Nippon Foundation whose help enabled us to publish this book.
October 1997
Fumio Takagi
Chairman,
Japan Aging Research Center
