The News
Japan approved a record $730 billion budget as it ramped up spending on its aging population.
Official data this year showed that Japan’s elderly population — those 65 or older — amounted to nearly a third of the total.
Populations are aging rapidly in much of the rich world, forcing governments to spend increasing amounts on pensions. A recent report showed that the European Union will have to spend more than a quarter of its GDP on aging-related costs for the foreseeable future, a rising burden that comes as many of the bloc’s countries face pressure to increase spending on defense too.
“Europe’s shrinking population has long raised concerns about its economic prospects,” Bloomberg wrote this year. “Governments are seriously worried about it.”
