Japan's law on guaranteeing the elderly’s rights against the impacts of population aging and some suggestions for Vietnam

Abstract

Japan is one of the countries with the highest population ageing rate compared to other countries in the world. The speed of population ageing leads to a shortage of young workers, an excess of elderly workers, as well as a weaked social security system. Facing these impacts, Japan was forced to develop a number of laws to protect the rights and interests of the elderly and, at the same time, employ elderly workers. Meanwhile, Vietnam’s population is forecast to officially enter the ageing population period in 2026, which will last for 28 years (2026-2054 period), when people aged 65 and over will account for 10.2% to 19.9% of the population. The scope of this article is to analyse a number of laws to protect the rights of the elderly in Japan against the effects of population ageing. On that basis, the authors make some suggestions to improve the law against the impacts of population ageing in Vietnam now and in the future.