The Health and Welfare Ministry, in a white paper released Tuesday, called on rich elderly citizens to cover a larger portion of social insurance costs, saying the nation's medical insurance and pension systems can no longer function without contributions from all members of society.

The 2000 white paper on health and welfare attempts to refute a widely held belief that the elderly are socially and economically weak, filling more than half the report with various statistics showing that they are better off than generally thought.

The paper says that households headed by people aged 65 or older have comparatively large assets and that the elderly tend to possess more savings than younger generations.

It is necessary to pay due consideration to the elderly who are financially strapped, but the traditional social insurance system, in which the working population covers the pension and medical costs of the elderly, can no longer function against the backdrop of Japan's rapidly aging society, the paper says.

In a country where one in every four citizens will be 65 or older by 2015, everyone must accept the fact that the entire population must share these various financial burdens, it says.

As of last Oct. 1, the elderly in Japan totaled approximately 21.19 million, accounting for 16.7 percent of its entire population. During the next 20 years, Japan's elderly population will swell by 11.46 million, the equivalent of Tokyo's current population, according to the white paper.

Since 1965, the government, in its censuses, has defined elderly citizens as anyone 65 or older, but the paper says it is time to change that definition.

A survey conducted by the Management and Coordination Agency shows 50 percent of respondents who were 60 or older said people who are 70 or older should be considered elderly, while a fourth of those polled defined "elderly" as anyone 75 or older.

"The idea of calling anyone 65 or older elderly was conceived when Japan had a much smaller share of the population in that age group," the paper says.

It also said younger generations must realize that elderly people are "rich in abilities and highly motivated."