However, given that one often hears about a lack of medical and nursing services that meet the needs of elderly people who have enough cash, it seems likely that, in Japan, either not enough of these services have been provided or not enough progress has been made in facilitating an infrastructure that makes the provision of these services possible in view of the potential demand arising from the aging population.
In fact, among leading economies, the growth rate of the elderly population during the last 10 years is the highest in Japan. During the same period, expenditure related to medical and nursing services increased at the slowest pace in Japan (Chart 11). The case for the medical and nursing service industry merely serves to illustrate the point concerning increasing potential demand.