While the number of children in Japan is going down, the number of old people is increasing. The over-65s now make up a record 25.6 per cent of the Japanese population. The government has warned that these trends will continue for decades to come. It said the proportion of people aged 65 or over could reach nearly 40 per cent in 2060. This will make life in Japan almost impossible for young, working people. They will have to pay much higher taxes to support the over-65s. The Japanese economy will also be in big trouble because there will not be enough young people to work. Japan's government has tried many things to get people to have more babies, but nothing seems to be working.