Page 24 - IJPS-9-1

International Journal of

Population Studies

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Population aging and immigration: Evidence

from Japan

Mikiko Oliver*
Department of Demography, University of Texas at San Antonio, 501 W. César E. Chávez Boulevard,
San Antonio, TX 78207, USA

Abstract
In Japan, the population of immigrants has been increasing sharply, while the
population is aging rapidly. Therefore, Japan is chosen for a case study to examine
the relationship between demographic change and immigration. Immigration is
important to the growth of the labor force due to population aging and the decline
in working age population. Existing studies generally support the hypothesis that
a positive association exists between population aging and immigration, which is
as aging population increases, the number of immigrants increases in industrialized
countries. However, there remain uncertainties as to what age range of the
population is considered to increase in the proportion of older people related to the
positive association, and how population composition by age group is related to the
immigration in Japan. This study examines how the population composition by age
group is related to immigration in Japan by applying econometric methods for the
period 1975 – 2019. The results indicate that a decrease in the ratio of the population
aged 60 – 64 to the total population and an increase in the population aged 65 and
over are associated with increases in the ratio of foreign resident population to the
*Corresponding author: total population of Japanese nationals.
Mikiko Oliver
(mikikomoliver@gmail.com)
Citation: Oliver, M. (2023). Keywords: Population aging; Older people; Labor force; Immigration; Immigrants;
Population aging and immigration: International migration; Japan
Evidence from Japan.
International Journal of Population
Studies, 9(1):18-29.
https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.407
Received: November 11, 2022 1. Introduction
Accepted: April 20, 2023 Japan is often described as an ethnically homogeneous nation. However, Japan is
changing with more older people and more foreigners (BBC Worklife, 2018). The ratio
Published Online: May 15, 2023 of Japan’s foreign resident population to the total population of Japanese nationals (F2J)
Copyright: © 2023 Author(s). more than tripled from 0.67% to 2.37% between 1975 and 2019, according to the data
This is an Open Access article
distributed under the terms of the from the Statistics Bureau of Japan (2023a). At the same time, Japan’s population is aging
Creative Commons Attribution rapidly. Japan’s population is aging much faster than any other countries (Higo, 2022).
License, permitting distribution, While the issue on population aging and immigration is a concern to both public and
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is private sectors, it remains uncertain as to how population aging affects immigration.
properly cited. Existing studies generally support the hypothesis that a positive association exists
Publisher’s Note: AccScience between population aging and immigration, which is as aging population increases, the
Publishing remains neutral with number of immigrants increases in industrialized countries (Australian Government
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional Productivity Commission, 2006; Bijak et al., 2008; Denton & Spencer, 2015; Keely, 2008;
affiliations. Lutz et al., 2019). However, there remain uncertainties as to what age range population

Volume 9 Issue 1 (2023) 18 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.407