Population aging in the Asia–Oceania region

Recently the term 'global aging', which refers to the universal trend of aging of the world population, is being widely used. First of all, I will shed some light on this trend of world population aging from the viewpoint of regional populations and their future projections.
Second, I will discuss about the determinants of population aging in the Asia and Oceania region. So far as the region is concerned, it will be divided into three groups of countries according to the level of population aging. The first group is the most advanced aged countries such as Japan, Australia, and New Zealand whose percentage of the elderly aged 65 and over is more than 10% in the year of 2000. The second group is the aging countries such as Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and China whose percentage of the elderly is between 5 and 10%. and the third group is the remaining countries in this region whose percentage is less than 5%. The demographic aspects of each group are analyzed and the relationships between the fertility reduction and aging are also discussed in the perspectives of the demographic transition.
Third, I will discuss about the consequences of population aging in this region with special reference to Asian developing countries. In this section, I will mention the problems of dependency burden, the so-called population bonus, health expectancy, and social security systems. Fourth, some prominent characteristics concerning the living conditions and norms or attitudes of the elderly will be indicated, and I will also raise such points like family systems, living arrangements, social participation, and Ikigai (the worth of life) peculiar to Asian countries. Fifth and finally, I will touch on the topics of the issues and policies of the aging society. At present the social status of the elderly is improving in Asian countries and it is in the hope that the myth of aging will disappear in the near future.