OECD Territorial Reviews: Japan 2016
Japan is embarked on a demographic transition without precedent in human history:
the population is both declining and ageing rapidly. This raises important questions
about the country's future economic geography, as public policies will need both to
respond to these shifts and also to shape them. Demographic change will have particularly
important implications for the settlement pattern of the country, and this, in turn,
will affect Japan's ability to sustain economic growth and the well-being of its citizens.
This Review therefore focuses on the spatial implications of demographic change and
the response of spatial policies to it, particularly as these interact with other
policies aimed at sustaining the productivity growth that a "super-ageing" Japan will
need in order to maintain its future prosperity. The Japanese authorities have recently
put in place a complex package of long-term spatial and structural policies aimed
at meeting this challenge. Their experience should be of first-order interest to other
OECD countries, as most face the prospect of rapid population ageing and many are
also projected to experience significant population decline over the coming decades.
Published on April 11, 2016Also available in: Japanese
In series:OECD Territorial Reviewsview more titles