Japan is ranked 9th in the world in terms of
population with 127.3 million people residing there in mid 2004. According to data obtained from World Bank Indicators, national growth rate in Japan Economy during 1997-2003 was 0.1%. This was much lower than the high-income countries' growth of 0.6 %.
Given Japan's small land area and large population, its density of population is higher. The recent figure shows 243 persons live per sq km in Japan. Almost 65% of the people live in urban areas and live a long life (life expectancy at birth in Japan is 82 years, the maximum among all countries of the world, according to (1997-2003) World Bank figures.
The UNDP 2004 report shows that 11.8% of Japan's population lives below income poverty line (50% of median household income). Gross primary enrollment, which denotes the percent of school-age population, is 101%, with both male and female enrolled equitably. Adult Literacy rate is 99%. Japan is ranked 9th in 177 countries of the world in terms of human development index.
Japan's labour force growth rate of 0.1% in last six years and was lower in comparison to the other high-income countries' where workforce has grown at a rate of 0.7% during these years. Unemployment rate was estimated to be 4.7 % in 2004 .
Japan Economy and Key Economic Indicators
A member of OECD, Japan Economy is the second largest market economy in the world, with a per capita Gross National income of $ 34510 (2003). In terms of purchasing power parity, Per capita GNI in 2003 was US $ 27,460. Average annual growth rate of GDP was 2.6 % during 2004.
Japan's postwar economy developed from the leftovers of an industrial infrastructure that suffered widespread destruction during World War II. As a result, in 1952, Japan was a considered as "less-developed country," with per capita consumption roughly one fifth that of the United States. But over the following 2 decades, Japan averaged an annual growth rate of 8%,
enabling it to become the first country to move from "Less-developed" to "developed" status in the postwar-era.
|
Japan's per capita GDP rose from 21 percent in 1955 to 56 percent in 1970. High rates of personal savings and private-sector facilities investment, a labor force with a strong work ethic, an ample supply of cheap oil, innovative technology, and effective government intervention in private-sector industries al contributed to Japan's growth. Japan was a major beneficiary of the swift growth attained by the postwar world economy under the principles of free trade advanced by the International Monetary Fund and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and in 1968 its economy became the world's second largest, behind that of the United States.
However, in the late 1990s, Japan Economy suffered its longest recession since World War II. By the end of 1990, the Tokyo stock market had fallen 38%, wiping out 300 trillion yen (US$2.07 trillion) in value, and land prices dropped steeply from their speculative peak. This plunge into recession is known as the "bursting" of the "bubble economy." GDP, which had grown slowly in the early 1990s, fell 0.4 percent in 1997 and another 2.8 percent in 1998. This was the first time in the postwar era that Japan's GDP declined two years in a row.
However, by late 1999 and early 2000, signs
of recovery, such as increasing stock prices and revenue growth in some industries, began to be visible. Government policies and other factors such as increasing demand for Japanese products in recovering economies in Asia and rapid growth in information-technology-related industries contributed to the recovery.
Among the other indicators of economy, the level of inflation as measured by Consumer price index was 1.6% in Dec 2004.
|