【Aging, safety net and fiscal crisis in Japan】No.111: Demographics since 1899

In March 2018, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare released a report of demographics pertaining to the period 1899-2016 titled "Vital Statistics in Japan." As shown in Figure 1, the number of deaths per 1,000 population has been rising after declining sharply from 21.5 in 1899 to 6.2 in 1980. This reflects that the number of deaths due to cancer, heart disease, pneumonia, and senility has started to rise along with the increase in the number of elderly individuals aged 75-years and older, although the mortality rate has remained low in the period when average life expectancy extended even as aging progressed (Figure 2).

Figure 3 is an international comparison of the number of deaths per 1,000 population before adjusting for age composition differences. Among the industrialized countries, the rise in Japan's mortality rate is conspicuous.

Figure 1: Mortality rate

Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

Figure 2: Changes in mortality rate by major causes of death

Figure 3: International comparison of mortality
　　　　　　(Before adjusting for age composition differences)