Monitoring press freedom and international affairs from Mid-Missouri Public Radio and the Missouri School of Journalism

Japan, South Korea face population bust [rebroadcast]

29 November 2019
Elderly women in Gangneung, South Korea. (AP Photo/Yun Jai-hyoung)

Japan and South Korea face stark demographic change. Longer life spans and low birth rates in both countries have led to rapidly aging populations. At 126 million, Japan's population is already declining and is forecast to shrink below 100 million in 30 years. South Korea's will begin shrinking in the next decade, but is expected to decline even faster.

On this edition of Global Journalist, a look at the challenges for both countries as they face a future with a shrinking workforce trying to support a rapidly expanding elderly population - and what lessons they hold for the U.S. and other countries.

 

 

Joining the program:

  • Robin Harding, Tokyo bureau chief, Financial Times
  • Brad Glosserman, deputy director, Tama University Center for Rule-making Strategies
  • Sung Jae-Choi, professor emeritus, department of Social Welfare, Seoul National University
  • George Leeson, director of the Oxford Institute of Population Aging, Oxford University

 

Assistant producers: Gaëlle Fournier, Annie Le, Connor O'Halloran

Visual editor: Megan Smaltz

Supervising producer: Rosemary Belson

Monitoring press freedom and international affairs from Mid-Missouri Public Radio and the Missouri School of Journalism.
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