Japan’s elderly population has reached a historic point, with a record 36.25 million citizens now aged 65 or older, according to the latest government figures. Individuals aged 65 or older now comprise nearly one-third of the country’s total population, Al Jazeera reported.

Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in a report released on Sunday said that the elderly now make up an estimated 29.3 per cent of the population, a higher proportion than in any other country or region with more than 1,00,000 people.

According to the ministry’s report, women comprise a significant majority of Japan’s elderly population, with approximately 20.53 million females aged 65 or older, representing 32.3% of the country’s total female population. In contrast, senior citizen men number around 15.72 million, accounting for 26.1% of the male population, NHK World reported.

Japan’s population is poised for a dramatic shift as the number of seniors is expected to reach 34.8 per cent of the population in 2040, once those born between 1971 to 1974 become elderly, according to the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, Kyodo News reported.

Notably, in the month of February, the number of babies born in Japan in the year 2023 fell to a record low from a year earlier as the country’s population shrank by its largest-ever margin, government data showed, according to a report by Kyodo News.

The figure for babies was down by 5.1 per cent to 758,631, according to preliminary data released by the health ministry in February, the Japanese news agency had reported.

A forecast by the Japanese government’s National Institute of Population and Social Security Research had also estimated births in the country to decline to below 7,60,000 in the year 2035.