Population aging is underway across the developed world and even in some developing countries like China and South Korea, where the transition to lower fertility has been especially rapid (Lee, 2003). The United Nations Population Division (2011) predicts that by 2030, the ratio of population aged 65 and over to the working-age population aged 20-64 will average 36% across the more developed countries, up from 24% today and ranging from a high of 57% in Japan to 36% in the U.S. and to a low of around 30% in Ireland and parts of southeastern Europe. In Japan, where immigration is negligible and fertility has been below replacement levels since 1974, the labor force has been shrinking in absolute as well as relative size since 1998 (World Bank, 2012).
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