The line chart illustrates the percentage of people aged 65 or older in Japan, Sweden and America over a century, starting from 1940.
As can be seen from the chart, an upward trend is expected to be seen in the proportion of people aged 65 or more in all observed countries between 1940 and 2040. In addition, it is anticipated that the USA will witness a significant change during this period.
In 1940, nearly 10% of the American population fell into the 65 or over age group, which was twice as much as that of Japan. Over the next 40 years, the USA experienced a gradual increase to 15%. Sweden followed a similar pattern, which began at around 7% in 1940 and subsequently rose to 14% in 1980. By contrast, the percentage of Japanese aged 65 or over had halved to just over 2.5% by 1980.
By 2050, despite having the largest share of people aged 65 and over initially, the figure for the USA is predicted to have the least significant change compared to Sweden and Japan, going up moderately to just under 23%. The percentage of elderly people aged 65 or over in Japan, meanwhile, is expected to soar rapidly to approximately 27%, surpassing the figure for the remaining countries in 2050.