Housing policy towards a super aging society: From building specifications to special needs measures

Currently Japan is an ‘aged society.’ However, with the ratio of elderly people increasing year on year, Japan is heading towards a ‘super aging society.’ In the coming ‘super aging society’, one in four people will be elderly. The elderly referred to here are usually older than 65 ; however, it is already difficult to refer to those in the 60–70-year-old age bracket as elderly people. It is anticipated that, heading into a society where aging is progressing, and where even among elderly people there is an increasingly larger class of older senior citizens, the increasing number of elderly people requiring personal care (or nursing care) will be an even greater issue of importance.

In the past 10 years, various housing policies for elderly people have been implemented. However, a turning point was reached with regard to these policies, and the time to revise these policies has arrived. In this paper, I will provide an overview of the housing policy for Japanese elderly people, and talk about contemporary issues on this subject as well as issues that will be necessary in the future.

Kazuoki Ohara17-01-2007

The Bright Side: A Positive View on the Economics of Aging

SUMMARY

Analyses of the impacts of population aging in Canada have typically emphasized the costs of aging while neglecting some important, positiveimpacts. This omission of likely positive factors leads to overly pessimistic scenarios about the economic and fiscal consequences of aging in Canada, even though some data indicate that population aging can have economic benefits as well as costs.

Marcel Mérette24-11-2006