Japan NGO Council on Ageing (JANCA) is a network of organizations that promote measures for an aged society. As of 2010, JANCA has over 50 full member organizations and 9 supporting organizations. Its goal is “to promote social participation among senior citizens,” and it provides various educational activities and submits recommendations to policymakers based on the results of surveys with senior citizens who are associated with JANCA member organizations.
This “JANCA Opinion Survey” has been conducted 6 times since 2000, asking respondents on their characteristics (e.g., sex, age, living arrangement and health status) as well as their daily lives and Ikigai (i.e., life worth living), including social participation activities, pensions/social security and efforts to protect environment.
The following discusses the conditions of independent senior citizens in our country based on “JANCA Opinion Survey.”
○ Subjects
This is a nationwide survey, and most of the subjects are aged 60 or over. They are mostly retirees, their spouses or friends. Among those aged 65 or over, more than 90% live on pensions. About 80% of the respondents are aged 65 or over, and sex ratio (male: female) is 5:4 at the 2009 survey.
Some characteristics of the respondents are as follows. (i) The proportion of those with spouse is high. More than 80% of males aged 80 or over and about 70% of females aged 74 or younger have a spouse. (ii) About 80% report that their health is good. Including those who consider themselves not healthy but are engaged in social activities (15-20% of the respondents), about 95% are active. The remaining 5-6% are not currently engaged in any social activities. (iii) A number of respondents are making efforts to maintain their health. The most popular is “watching what to eat” (a little over 60%), followed by “keeping orderly lifestyle,” “exercise” and “having regular health checkup” (a little over 50% respectively). (iv) They like communicating with others. For example, over 60% enjoy hobbies, about 60% enjoy meeting with friends, over 50% enjoy spending time with families, and more than 40% are engaged in voluntary activities.
○ Messages Derived from the Survey Results
They are already mentioned in JANCA’s Recommendations (August 11, 2009), which are developed based on the survey results. The following summarizes these messages.
(i) In the first half of 21st century, social participation among senior citizens is essential in our aged society. Hence, we are urged to build an aged society that takes the state of senior citizens into consideration.
(ii) Rather than taking the longevity for granted, senior citizens shall actively participate in building a society so that all the generations can lead fulfilling lives (we shall build a society where senior citizens can have roles).
(iii) Since a majority of senior citizens in our society think positively about “working,” we should build a society where senior citizens can utilize their experiences and economic resources, so that they can vitalize social economy both from the demand and supply sides.
(iv) An aging society represents the progress of human society that has long been wished for. Population is aging in a number of countries, and the international community is also calling for development of goods (e.g., universal design) and society that would respond to an aged society. The fact that our country is the most aged developed country implies that we are in a better position in pursuing social and economic development.
(v) Almost 100% of senior citizens vote until they start needing care, and a majority of them have no particular party affiliation (This may be one of the reasons why a number of Diet members (including current Cabinet members) have responded to “JANCA’s Recommendations”).
○ Comments Made at Study Group
(i) Among the respondents of the 2009 survey who are aged 65 or over, the proportion of newspaper readers is quite high, with over 70% reading it thoroughly and additional 25-30% skimming through it. Moreover, only 3% of the respondents say they rarely watch TV. In other words, this generation heavily relies on media to obtain information on the society. Nonetheless, media companies have few monitors aged 65 or over.
(ii) In the 2003 and 2005 surveys, the respondents who were pensioners reported on their economic conditions. However, there are few subjects aged 65 or over in National Family Income and Expenditure Survey. <It seems that neither the nation nor media are interested in senior citizens who have no particular problems. The same thing can be said about experts.>
(iii) Since research on senior citizens is conducted by the public bodies and social welfare experts, there are few studies on independent senior citizens. As for economic resources of senior citizens, although there are some studies and estimates on their savings and assets, it seems more difficult to obtain data on living activities and consumption among independent senior citizens.
Shigeyoshi Yoshida
Executive Director, JANCA
