[extropy-chat] Japan hits record on centenarians

[BillK]

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3786045.stm>

Quote:

Japan's ageing population has recorded another first - the number of
centenarians has doubled in the last five years to more than 20,000.
A new government report also found that nearly one in five people is now
over 65, a proportion that is set to rise to one in four by 2050.

The report underlined government worries about an over-burdened pension
scheme as its population ages.

The propensity to long life is not seen as wholly positive, however, as
the country's birth rate is falling at the same time. More retirees are 
set to draw their pensions, while fewer working-age people are paying 
into them. According to some estimates, Japan will be home to roughly 
one person over 65 for every two working-age people by 2025.

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This should be the future for all the first-world countries. The same
benefits and problems.

Assuming that we can stop eating too much, getting obese and dying from
heart attacks, diabetes and other obesity related problems.

BillK