Japan's health care system is the envy of the world. The average Japanese male expects to live 75.9 years, while women can live upto a ripe 81.8 years. But this success has helped create the fastest growing greying population in the industrialised world, shooting national medical costs through the roof.

Today, about 1 out of 7.7 Japanese is aged 65 or above; by AD 2024, 25.4 per cent of the population will be. National medical costs in 1994 exceeded 24 trillion yen and are expected to rise by at least 1 trillion yen a year.

Alarmed by the situation, Tokyo plans to put into operation a new 2-trillion yen government-run old age insurance programme in 1997, which will provide nursing care for the 65-plus at a place of their choice. The costs for the plan are to be shared between local governments and medical insurers. (ips)