Tokyo, Sept. 20 (Jiji Press)–The number of people aged 65 and older in Japan is estimated to have totaled 36.24 million as of Tuesday, up by 20,000 from a year earlier, the internal affairs ministry said Sunday, ahead of Respect for the Aged Day in Japan on Monday. The proportion of this age group in Japan’s overall population rose 0.2 percentage point to a record high of 29.6 pct. This figure is the highest among 39 countries with populations of 40 million or more in 2026. Italy ranks second with 25.6 pct, and Germany places third with 24.2 pct. The elderly group includes 15.71 million men and 20.54 million women, accounting for 26.3 pct of Japan’s male population and 32.6 pct of the female population, respectively. The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research predicts that the share of elderly people will reach 34.8 pct in 2040, when second baby boomers born between 1971 and 1974 are 65 or older. The number of workers aged 65 and older rose for 22 years in a row and reached 9.43 million in 2025, the highest since comparable data began in 1968. They accounted for a record high of 13.8 pct of all workers aged 15 and over in the country. Of these elderly workers, 1.31 million were in the wholesale and retail sector, 1.22 million in the medical and welfare sector, and 1.08 million in the services sector. Of the 5.86 million elderly workers who were not corporate executives, 4.46 million, or 76.1 pct, were nonregular employees. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
