Snapshots of a Graying Society. 2003 Males and females aged 50–59 become the largest group in Japan's population pyramid. The Japanese baby boom generation (born 1947–1949) changes the way the elder population lives. 2005 Half the adult population of Japan is aged 50 or over. One in five Japanese adults is an older elder (65–74) or aged elder (75+). 2015 One in four Japanese adults is an older elder (65–74) or aged elder (75+). Markets shift to focus on the elder population. A Society Aging at an Unprecedented Rate. Japan is aging faster than any other industrialized country. Sources: Based on population estimates in The Sex and Age Distribution of World Population: 1996 (UN). Japan data based on an average of estimates appearing in National Census Report by the Statistics Bureau, Management & Coordination Agency, and Population Projection for Japan by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (estimates dated January 1997). 2005: A Watershed Year in the Aging of Japan. In 2005, with the baby-boom generation now in their mid-50s, fully one half of the adult population of Japan is aged 50 or older. Sources: Based on estimates in National Census Report by the Statistics Bureau, Management and Coordination Agency and Population Projection for Japan by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (estimates dated January 1997).