The main culprit to Australia’s ageing issue is a common one among the developed countries – long life expectancy accompanied with low mortality rate. Thanks to the advancements in medication, living standards and so forth, an Australian baby born in 2012 is expected to live up to 94 years. When compare to Japan, Australia’s reasons to the ageing society leans towards longevity rather than birth rates. Thus, increase the workforce participation among elder population has become the main resolve for Australian government to tackle on. Despite the great changes in life expectancies these past decades, there has been little to no changes in the Age Pension. A male born during 1901 to 1925 are expected to live just 19 years in retirement while a male born during 2006 to 2060 spend up to 33 years in retirement. In addition, the later generation’s retired population is expected to be healthy ones, capable of working. Due to that, many have argued to extend the eligible age for working (beyond 66 years old); in fact, the Australian government announces that the Age Pension are to be extended to 67 by 2023. They also have been striving for equality among aged workers. Aside from removing the age limit, equal pay and allowing mature workers the rights to request suitable work hours have also been taken into account. Whereas Japan, according to professor John McCallum, the rate of …show more content…
Japan has a shocking low fertility rate 1.47 while the replacement rate needed to be 2.1 in order to sustain a stable population. Desperate measures have been attempted in order to reverse the nation’s population downslide. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has funded 3 billion yen to programs – in fact, local officials have been arranging meeting parties and dating services for singles . This is due to fact that this shockingly low fertility rate is manifested by a similarly low marriage rate. Younger Japanese generations are turning to the “celibacy syndrome” which is when they refuse to date, get married and have sexual intercourse. Statically, the average age for a woman’s first marriage is 29.3 years old and 30.4 years old when she gives birth to her first child. This is explained by the majority which is in order pursuit their careers. Moreover, such reasoning is further discloses when women are pressured to follow the Japanese’s traditional roles after marriage (as explained in paragraph 3). As a result, it is clear that to why Japanese woman marry (if not) at such a late time. While it was analyzed during paragraph 3 in regards to the government striving towards Womenomics in order to increase the workforce participation, another goal now is to erode traditional values that bound Japanese women which then give rises to reluctance against marriage and child bearing. In fact, it is according to chief