NATIONAL R&D PROJECTS

摘要

This section describes various R&D projects being carried out in Japan on a national scale. Today in Japan, the number of elderly citizens and physically handicapped is in creasing steadily, and the population of citizens over 65 years of age is estimated to be about 17% of the entire national population by the year 2000 and to exceed 25% of the national population by the year 2020, so the aged population is increasing at a rate unseen in other countries. The trend to small families with only a few children is continuing, so together with the decrease in the country's young labor force, the present trends are believed to cause a critical shortage of persons to care for and nurse elderly and physically handicapped citizens.