The number of people aged 65 or older in Japan has topped those in the youngest age bracket for the first time since the national census was launched in 1920, the government said Friday in a preliminary report.
According to the 2000 census, there were 22.27 million people in the 65-and-over bracket, whereas those in the 14-and-under range totaled 18.45 million, the Public Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said.
The total population came in at 126.92 million, of which those aged 65 and older accounted for 17.5 percent. In this regard, Japan ranks second among industrialized nations to Italy, whose equivalent figure is 18.2 percent, the ministry said.