Nearly 40% of older adults in Japan want to keep working

Nearly 40% of Japan’s older adults — those age 65 and over — want to continue engaging in paid work, with the most common motivation being the need for money, a white paper on the nation’s aging population revealed on Friday.

The percentage is much higher compared to numbers from the countries where the same survey was conducted last year among the same age group — the United States, Germany and Sweden. In the U.S., only around 24% of respondents gave the same answer, and in the other two countries, around 19%.

Among those in Japan who want to continue working, nearly half — the largest percentage — cited the need to earn an income, followed by 25% who said working helps them maintain their health and slow down aging.