Designing family values: cultural assumptions of an aging society

People aged over 65 account for 15% of Japan's total population and could account for 27% by the year 2025, compared with around 20% in Europe and North America. Japan must prepare social resources to care for its aging population and the issue is perceived to be one of the country's most critical forthcoming problems. Life expectancy has grown 50% in recent decades, but the need for care of the chronically long-term ill has become more widespread. The organisation of society can change through the aging population, with social expectations requiring adjustment.