Friday 03 July 2026 4:32 am  |  Updated:  Thursday 02 July 2026 2:44 pm

Britain should look to Japan to manage its ageing population

By: Megan McDonald

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England’s fertility rate has fallen to a rate Japan confronted 30 years ago. Here’s the lessons we should take, writes Megan McDonald

One of the biggest challenges facing the incoming Prime Minister will be to keep enough people in work to generate growth in an ageing society. On this, he could do worse than look to Japan.

The UK is following a demographic path that Japan knows well. The fertility rate in England and Wales has fallen to 1.39 children per woman, a level Japan reached almost 30 years ago. At the same time, the number of people above pension age continues to rise. Over the next decade, millions more people will retire while the proportion of working-age people supporting them declines.

These trends are often portrayed as an inevitable drag on the economy, but Japan’s........

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