Zur Bevölkerungsentwicklung in Japan

Abstract Before World War n, Japan experienced rapid population growth. With abortion legalized in 1948, a reduction of the birth rate by 50 % was accomplished within one decade. The death rate was also greatly reduced and life expectancy became among the highest in the world; both tendencies caused further population growth. If present trends continue, there will be 135 million Japanese by 2010, shrinking to the present number of 110 million only by 2110. While critics fear that the population's "rapid aging" will bring disadvantages to Japan's economy, one might argue that most industrialized societies are in a similar position, and that Japan should develop better systems of social security in old age and increase labour productivity by modernizing the employment and wage practices, in order to cope with the future.