We can come across old people everywhere - in restaurants, on airplanes, in hospitals and even in Disneyland! Things

are quite different from what it was 20 years ago. Is this change in demography good or bad for society? I would say

it has more negative effects than positive ones.

Doubtlessly, older people are very experienced in life, so to society, and particularly to the younger generation, they

are a valuable treasure. This is because older people can give us constructive suggestions and can assist us in doing

many different things, preventing us from making mistakes. So, seen from this perspective, an increasing proportion

of older people in the population are not necessarily something bad.

However, it would not be accurate to say that having an older population always benefits us. It also has negative

effects on society. First of all, the aging population is retiring from the working world. That means it does not offer

society the labour it needs for its sustained economic growth. Japan has actually been troubled by its aging labourers.

Japanese people are even encouraged by their government to give birth to more babies, not for themselves, but for the

nation!

Secondly, rapid social development calls for more people with creative and innovative minds and generally speaking,

this refers to young people. Electric bulbs and computers would never have come about without groups of young

people who were not happy with the status quo and were bold enough to challenge established traditions. It is said

more than 80% of the great inventions and literary works are created by people under 40 years old.

In a word, while older people enlighten us with their rich experience, they use up more than they produce. At the

same time, they are more likely to follow rules docilely. Therefore, the demerits of an aged population far outweigh

its merits.