Is this Britain’s future too? With an ageing population and one of the world’s lowest birth rates, Japan is facing a demographic crisis — and it is not alone.
Japan's old pick jail over life alone
Is this Britain's future too? With an ageing population and one of the world's lowest birth rates, Japan is facing a demographic crisis - and it is not alone.
Japan's largest women's prison is not where everyone would want to spend their 81st birthday. But one inmate says she was fine with it: "My son tells me to disappear - he says: 'I don't care when you die.' They are very good people in this prison. I am very thankful that in prison I can live a regular life every day."1
Others feel the same way. "There's no one to take care of them outside and they're repeatedly abandoned," says Megumi, a prison officer. "They come here because they don't have anywhere else to go."
According to another guard, Takayoshi Shiranaga, the staff help the prisoners to bathe and eat: "It feels more like a nursing home than a prison full of convicted criminals." Some of the women deliberately break the law because they are cold or hungry and can get free medical treatment inside: "Once they leave, they have to pay for it themselves, so some people want to stay here as long as possible."
Between 2003 and 2022 the number of Japanese prisoners aged 65 or more almost quadrupled. It vividly illustrates the problem of an ageing population without enough young people to provide care.
Keeping a population stable requires women to have an average of 2.1 children. But Japan's fertility rate has been below that since 1973, when an oil crisis caused a global recessionA period of economic decline. A recession occurs when a country's Gross Domestic Product falls for six months in a row. . At present it stands at 1.3.2
In the past year Japan's population has fallen by 670,000 to 121.96 million. By 2070, according to the latest forecasts, 40% of the population will be over 65.
The main problem is that fewer young people are getting married. In 2023, for the first time in 90 years, there were fewer than half a million marriages - 6% down from 2022.
Many find the idea of a family challenging because the cost of livingThe money that someone needs to afford basic food, housing and clothes. is high and people have to work incredibly hard to make ends meet. There is also a shortage of accommodation large enough for families.
Japan's government has tried offering incentives to combat this, such as housing subsidies and generous child-care arrangements. Some communities are paying couples to have children. But the crisis continues.
Other countries face similar problems - China, Italy and Spain among them. South Korea's fertility rate is just 1.08.3
Britain's rate currently stands at 1.75. As a result, its population is ageing too: by 2050 the number of over-65s is predicted to rise from 12.5 million to 18.7 million.
This is putting a huge strain on government finances and healthcare services, and also creating an epidemicA widespread disease or infection. of loneliness. A survey by Age UK found that over one million old people go for more than a month without talking to a relative, friend or neighbour.
An obvious solution is to allow young immigrants to fill the gap. But Japan has always been resistant to immigration and Western countries are becoming more so. Some argue that young migrants would bring older relatives with them, adding to the problem.
Is this Britain's future too?
Yes: Experts are sounding the alarm over a low birth rate and unaffordable housing. Unless young people have more children there will not be enough carers for the growing number of elderly people.
No: Britain's birth rate is still high enough to allow it to recover. Though many people in Britain complain about immigration, others recognise that this is the best source of carers.
Or... On a global scale, overpopulation is far more of a problem than underpopulation. Every child born puts a further strain on the environment, so countries like Japan should be applauded.
Recession - A period of economic decline. A recession occurs when a country's Gross Domestic Product falls for six months in a row.
Cost of living - The money that someone needs to afford basic food, housing and clothes.
Epidemic - A widespread disease or infection.
Japan’s old pick jail over life alone

Glossary
Recession - A period of economic decline. A recession occurs when a country’s Gross Domestic Product falls for six months in a row.
Cost of living - The money that someone needs to afford basic food, housing and clothes.
Epidemic - A widespread disease or infection.