People aged 70 or older top 20 mil. for 1st time in Japan

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TOKYO, Sept. 14 Kyodo -
The number of people aged 70 or older in Japan has topped 20 million for the
first time, according to government statistics released Sunday.
The number of people in the age bracket was estimated at 20.17 million as of
Monday, up 570,000 from a year before, according to the figures released by the
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications ahead of Monday's
Respect-for-the-Aged Day holiday.
The ministry compiled the figures on the basis of the 2005 census.
The ministry said the number of people aged 65 or older has increased by
760,000 to a record 28.19 million, accounting for a record 22.1 percent of the
nation's population, up 0.6 percentage point from the previous survey last
year.
In the age category, the number of men totaled 12.03 million, making up 19.3
percent of the entire male population, while the number of women came to 16.16
million, accounting for 24.7 percent of the whole female population.
The number of women aged 80 or older stood at 5 million, roughly twice the
number of men in the same age bracket.
Of the people aged between 65 and 74, 32.2 percent had jobs as of last Oct. 1,
up 1.1 percentage points from the 2002 survey, the latest survey said.
The number of those employed by companies at the age of 65 or older was 2.87
million for the whole year of 2007. Age 65 is the mandatory retirement age for
many companies in Japan.
Of the 2.87 million people, 1.4 million were working under a non-regular
employment system with such status as part-time or contract worker, up 450,000
from the 2002 survey, the ministry said, adding that others included 790,000
company executives and 680,000 regular workers.
Analysts say more people are working after their retirement age at a time when
the labor force is shrinking amid a falling birthrate and aging population, but
many of them find it difficult to get a steady job.
==Kyodo