by Don Feder, Ruth Institute Coalitions Director
It didn’t take long to start heading where no civilized people should go. A Japanese professor at Yale is talking about euthanasia for his country’s growing population of older adults.
One-third of Japanese are over 65. One in 5 live alone. More than 30,000 die alone each year. A small industry has sprung up to remove their remains.
Japan’s elderly crisis is a consequence of its demographic crisis. The nation has one of the world’s lowest fertility rates — an average of 1.3 children per woman, with 2.1 needed to maintain population stability.
In 2022, its population declined by 800,000. It’s projected to fall an additional 30% by 2045. Back in the 1980s, Japan’s economy seemed invincible, and we were all learning Japanese business techniques. It worked for a while. In 1990, the nation’s gross domestic product grew 4.9%. By 2019, this growth had slowed to 0.3%. There aren’t enough young workers to keep the economy growing and pay social benefits to care for the aged.
In such a situation, ice floes look increasingly inviting. Professor Yusuke Narita, who is 38, told The New York Times in a Feb. 12 interview: “I feel like the solution is pretty clear. In the end, isn’t it mass suicide and mass seppuku of the elderly?”
And it needn’t necessarily be voluntary. “The possibility of making it mandatory in the future will come up in the discussion,” the professor remarked.
Mr. Narita has a huge social media following. Some Japanese lawmakers are saying he’s creating the conditions for a much-needed discussion. “There is criticism that older people are receiving too much pension money and young people are supporting all of the old people,” a leading member of the Diet says.
Solutions — other than seppuku?
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