Japan could face shortage of 270,000 nursing staff by 2025, ministry warns
With baby boomers being at least 75 by 2025, social security spending by the government and demand for medical practitioners are expected to rise rapidly.
Scientists who gave fruit flies a triple drug combination treatment and found that it extended their lives by almost 50 percent say their work offers clues on how to fight aging in people. The researchers said their aim is not to find the secret of ...
Health ministry names 424 public hospitals that need to consider reform
The health ministry on Thursday published a list of 424 public medical institutions it has deemed to be in need of possible consolidation and realignment. The move is aimed at speeding up the streamlining of the medical sector and suppressing ballooning medical costs ahead of ...
Abe vows to improve Japan's social welfare as population grays
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged Friday to step up efforts to reform social security as Japan faces a multitude of challenges stemming from its rapidly graying population and low birthrate. "Reform toward social security for all generations is the biggest challenge," Abe said at the ...
Firms promote electric wheelchairs as more Japanese turn in their driving permits
The government and manufacturers are promoting electric wheelchairs as a means of transportation to replace automobiles at a time when elderly people are increasingly returning their driver's licenses. Suzuki Motor Corp. is one of the country's largest makers of electric wheelchairs. Its mainstay ET4D model, priced ...
Elderly citizens accounted for record 28.4% of Japan's population in 2018, data show
Seniors accounted for 28.4 percent of Japan’s population and 12.9 percent of its labor force in 2018, both record highs, government data shows.
Ahead of Respect for the Aged Day, number of centenarians in Japan tops 70,000
The women vastly outnumber the men at 88.1 percent of the total, which is now roughly 23 times the figure logged in 1989, according to the government.
Scientists rethink Alzheimer's, diversifying drug search in wake of failures
When researchers at the University of Kentucky compare brains donated from people who died with dementia, very rarely do they find one that bears only Alzheimer's trademark plaques and tangles — no other damage. If they do, "we call it a unicorn," said Donna Wilcock, ...
Non-workers aged 50-plus could make up 59% of Japan's population by 2050, OECD warns
People aged 50 or older and out of the workforce in Japan could increase by 29 percent from 2018, to 59 per 100 people, by 2050, straining public retirement schemes, the OECD said in a recent report that suggested reforms are needed. The Organisation for ...
Japan eyes overhaul of pensions after payouts predicted to be worth 20% less within 30 years
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday that the government will consider overhauling the public pension system to make sure it is sustainable in the long term, a day after the government projections showed that pension payouts would fall by nearly a fifth in ...
Devolution? Keio University team designs wearable robotic tail to help elderly keep their balance
Millions of years after the ancestors of humans evolved to lose their tails, researchers at Keio University have built a robotic one they say could help unsteady elderly people keep their balance. Dubbed Arque, the gray 1-meter device mimics tails that cheetahs and other animals ...
Japan's financial firms grapple with how to support customers affected by dementia
Financial institutions are starting to implement measures to address issues related to their graying customer base — particularly, a growing number of dementia sufferers — to help them better manage their finances. According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, elderly people hold 60 percent ...
