Concerns about the graying of the
population first surfaced in 1994, when the
ratio of elderly people surpassed 14%.
Around the same time, the number of children
also began declining conspicuously. In 2005
the total fertility rate hit a record low of 1.26.
Since then the rate has risen slightly but
remains low. The upshot of this trend will be a
marked decline in the ratio of people of
productive ages, from 15 years to 64 years of
age, to elderly person 65 years of age or
older, from 4.4 in 1995 to a projected 2.1 in
2025.
Given