As the chaos linked to the coronavirus pandemic causes a spike in unemployment, the bleak economic prospects of working-age people in Japan are increasing concern that the nation's already low birth rate could slip further, deepening the country's aging crisis.

Japan, home to one of the world's longest-living populaces, is also the grayest society, with the highest percentage of older people anywhere in the world.

In 2019, people aged 65 or over made up a record 28.41 percent of the country's total population, according to government data released Aug. 5.