高齢者福祉政策と地域問題について--沖縄・酒田村のケ-ス (日本地域学会年報 昭和54年度)
スポンサーリンク
概要
- 論文の詳細を見る
The elderly above the age of 65 account for 8.9 percent of the total population of Japan as of September 1979. The percentage of elderly people is estimated to rise further to 13.9 percent in the year 2000 and 18.1 percent in the year 2025 and to remain around the level of 18 percent thereafter, according to the Demographic Research Institute of the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the estimate in the Third General Land Development Plan of the Government of Japan. This means that after the year 2025 one out of five or six would be in their old age.Such an increase in the number of the elderly is expected to have a great impact on the socio-economy of Japan. Some of the problem areas requiring policy efforts are as follows:(1) Increased burden on the population of working age in terms of contributions to pension and medicare programs and in feeding the elderly.(2) Extension of the retirement age and a change in the pay structure based on seniority, which will affect the industrial structure with respect to production and labor force.The development of policy measures is urgently needed to cope with these issues anticipated in the near future.The social security system in Japan has recently been improved and it is said that the pension system is comparable to those in America or the European countries. However, in other areas of welfare for the elderly, Japan is far behind these countries, partly because the age distribution of the Japanese population has been such as not to make welfare for the elderly a serious issue. In the past, support of the elderly has mostly been borne by individual families in Japan. The recent change in the socio-economic structure, however, has caused increasing uncertainty over life after retirement, increasing demand for the provision of public services and facilities and an increasing role of the government in the field of welfare. There is a need for programs under which retired persons can live in good health and in happiness. These programs should include not only those based on the assurance of purchasing power through the pension system, which is vulnerable to inflation, but also housing, resort and recreational areas, sports facilities, and facilities for education and cultural activities, horticulture and other hobbies. Partly because of apprehension that life after retirement will result in a decline in well-being for the elderly, retirement is generally accepted in Japan with a feeling of sadness. And it seems that friends and kinfolks sometimes feel awkward in dealing with the retire person. In the Western society, however, retirement is commonly considered as the start of an age for pursuing new values in life and is something to be congratulated.In order for the common Japanese people to be able to look forward to the day of retirement with hope and to engage with enthusiasm in designing a new life thereafter, it is necessary, as stated before, that facilities appropriate to the life style of the elderly be constructed taking into consideration their reduced physical activity as well as taste or preference and that carefully-designed programs for maintaining their physical and mental health be offered, in addition to the pension and grants. As a concrete program embodying such measures, it is desirable that "Senior Citizens' Towns" be constructed in Japan. The elderly above the age of 65 spent most of their productive years in the ordeals of the War and the difficult time of reconstruction after the War. Consequently their mobility was very much limited, and they have had little opportunity to travel and experience the excitement and pleasure of observing varied natural scenery and social establishments outside their own land. As a result, it is said that they generally tend to become retrogressive and enervate in their old age.
- 日本地域学会の論文