Public Policy and Politics in Times of Population Decline
Part 2: Looking at Per Capita Growth
OGURO Kazumasa
Consulting Fellow, RIETI
One economic index that governments and politicians often refer to when deciding on growth strategies, economic measures, and many other policies is the gross domestic product (GDP). However, is GDP an appropriate index?
The annual average rate of real GDP per capita growth in Japan over the 12 years since 2003 is 0.82%. Of the major countries shown in the below figure, this is the fourth highest. In other words, Japan has grown moderately in comparison to Europe and the United States.

Note: 2003-2012, annual average rate
However, the view of the public differs. This is because the overall real GDP growth rate, not the per capita growth rate, has been declining each year. In fact, real GDP growth, which averaged 4.7% in the 1980s, fell to an average of 1.1% in the 1990s, and has subsequently slid downward to 0.8%. Some think tanks and other institutions have tentatively estimated Japan's real GDP growth rate to turn negative beginning in 2020 until the 2040s due to the aging population causing a rapid decline in the working population.
Incidentally, textbook economics presumes it appropriate to express improvements in the standard of living as increases in real GDP per capita. Also, if we employ a "convergence hypothesis," which stipulates that a growth rate declines as the income level rises, it would be natural for the growth rate to slow down as the economy matures.
We need not be overly pessimistic just because the real GDP growth rate is declining. In a society where the population is declining, how fast real GDP per capita, which shows improvement in the standard of living, increases compared to other advanced nations is more important.
* Translated by RIETI.
October 28, 2015 Nihon Keizai Shimbun
January 26, 2016
Article(s) by this author
-
Balancing Promotion of the Pharmaceutical Industry & Sustainable Health Insurance Finance
July 15, 2022[Newspapers & Magazines]
-
Addressing the Year2040 and Year 2054 Problems
January 13, 2022[Priorities for the Japanese Economy in 2022 (January 2022)]
-
Demographic Changes & the Design of Public Finances & Social Security Structures
November 16, 2021[Newspapers & Magazines]
-
Grasping Income Information in Real Time: Points of Debate Regarding Administrative Digitalization
August 6, 2021[Newspapers & Magazines]
-
New Year Special Column: Predicting the Japanese Economy in 2021 Third Wave of COVID-19 and the Prospects for the Japanese Economy
January 21, 2021[Column]