The declining birthrate and aging population

[ishanijerin1]

According to a survey by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, Japan's population was 128.06 million in the 2010 census. Projections show that the country will enter a long-term population decline, dropping to 116.62 million in 2030, falling below 100 million to 99.13 million in 2048, and then to 86.74 million in 2060. (Based on medium-fertility projections)

In addition, the "productive age population (population aged 15 to 64)", which is important when considering the working environment, was over 80 million in 2010, but engineer database is expected to fall to around 67 million in 2030, with approximately 1.8 productive workers supporting one elderly person.



2. Using robots to alleviate labor shortages: Demonstration experiment aimed at commercializing unmanned cash registers
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Lawson and Panasonic have begun a demonstration experiment of an unmanned register that automates the payment and bagging of products at convenience stores.

When customers place their shopping basket at the register, the total amount is automatically displayed, and when they pay by cash or credit card, the bags are automatically bagged.
At the start of the demonstration experiment, customers had to hold the barcode of the product over a reader attached to the basket, but ultimately they plan to attach an electronic tag to each product, eliminating the need for customers to hold the product over the reader.

However, the price of electronic tags, said to be 10 to 15 yen each, is a major obstacle to realizing this.
The key to realizing this goal seems to be reducing costs by promoting their use throughout the entire distribution industry.