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| Japan’s population is both shrinking and ageing very rapidly |
Look at Japan and you see the future of many OECD countries. Extreme demographic shifts are re-sculpting the country in dramatic ways, defining future challenges and demanding new policy responses. These changes follow on two difficult decades for Japan, with chronic deflation, large budget deficits and extensive public debt. Yet, at least one of the factors fuelling Japan’s present situation is an unmitigated success story—a population that lives longer than in any other country in the world. Other challenges, such as the decreasing population of rural and many urban areas, represent opportunities to increase quality of life. But whether any of these opportunities play out will depend on Japan’s policy response. These issues and many others are discussed in the OECD Territorial Review: Japan 2016, presented by OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría this week in Tokyo.
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