PGDA_WP_71. Robots helping Japan’s ageing population - IOL SciTech | IOL.co.za. Tokyo - As an increasingly crowded world readies to welcome its seven billionth citizen, Japan faces the opposite problem - a shrinking population that has to depend on a new kind of friend: robots. While policymakers grapple with questions of how to pay for the burgeoning pension and healthcare costs of a society where the elderly outnumber working taxpayers, engineers say technology could help ease the social pain of ageing. A variety of companies, ranging from healthcare firms to carmakers, are developing robots they say can provide physical or emotional help to the elderly or those caring for them. Among the most startling is a bed that transforms into an electric wheelchair from Panasonic, and a robot programmed to gently wash the greying hairs of people who find it difficult to lift their arms. “Our concept is to provide a total solution for the silver society, not only for Japan but also the world,” said Yukio Honda, director of Panasonic's robot development centre.
62executivesummary_english. Population Aging. Aging of Population Leonid A. Gavrilov and Patrick Heuveline This is a manuscript of our article in The Encyclopedia of Population. , Macmillan Reference , 2003. [Note: This original manuscript is slightly different from the final publication because of small editorial changes.] Reference to the published article: Gavrilov L.A., Heuveline P. “Aging of Population.” In: Paul Demeny and Geoffrey McNicoll (Eds.) The Encyclopedia of Population. , Macmillan Reference , 2003 Available at: Aging of population (also known as demographic aging, and population aging) is a summary term for shifts in the age distribution (i.e., age structure) of a population toward older ages. Defining and measuring population aging As the study of population aging is often driven by a concern over its burdening of retirement systems, the aging of population is often measured by increases in the percentage of elderly people of retirement ages.
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