《外刊精读》日本教你如何优雅地老去

近年来，人们逐渐将“少子化”、“老龄化”、“孤独死”以及“低欲望社会”这些概念与日本联系到一起。面对人口老龄化的严峻问题，日本将如何逆转危局？它是否还能像上世纪80年代的巅峰时期那样，为其他国家提供参考样本？一起来听今天的讲解。   英文原文  Japan’s lesson on ageing gracefully  日本教你如何优雅地老去  By Financial Times  Japan once again represents a potential future to many in the US and Europe. But rather than the promise of a fast-growing, high-tech economy that it offered in the 1980s, today it raises the spectre of “Japanification” — low growth, virtually non-existent inflation, high public debt and a persistent inability to address any of these problems.  对许多美国人和欧洲人来说，日本再一次向他们展示了未来的一种可能。然而，与上世纪80年代不同，那一次，日本勾勒出了增长快速的高科技经济希望蓝图，如今，日本带来的是“日本化”恐惧。所谓“日本化”，就是指增长缓慢、几乎不存在通货膨胀、高公共债务，以及长期无法解决以上任一问题的状态。  As the world looks for options to prevent long-term stagnation and deal with public and private debt burdens after the coronavirus pandemic ends, many believe Japan can provide a warning of what not to do. In fact, its experience should be regarded as an example to others on how they can age gracefully.  当全世界都在寻找方法，以预防新冠疫情结束后出现长期经济停滞，应对公私债务负担，许多人认为日本可以提醒其他国家“哪些事情不能做”。实际上，日本的经验可以为其他国家提供一个范例：如何优雅地变老。  While the economy’s growth in aggregate has been low since the end of the 1990s bubble it has done no worse, and often better, at increasing living standards for its citizens than many other rich countries. A shrinking population has meant that while the total economy has stagnated, income per head has kept pace with elsewhere. Unemployment and inequality, too, are enviably low compared with much of Europe and the US.  尽管自上世纪90年代末的泡沫以来，日本经济总体一直处于低增长水平，但与其他许多富裕国家相比，日本在提高国民生活水平方面的表现并不差，甚至往往更好。人口的减少意味着，尽管日本整体经济停滞不前，但人均收入仍可与其他国家齐头并进。与美国以及大部分欧洲国家相比，日本的失业率和不平等程度也低得令人羡慕。  The chief lesson it offers is that a country can continue to improve the material wellbeing of its citizens without a growing population. This suggests one route for other countries to manage this demographic transition.  它给我们提供了一个重要的参考：一个国家可以在不增加人口的情况下继续改善其公民的物质福利。这为其他国家应对这种人口转型提供了一条途径。