日本老人放弃开车无法购物，或成经济另一桎梏

汇通财经APP讯——

目前，日本大约有700万人口是“购物难民”，即在其居住地离购物中心超过500米的情况下还没有汽车，这群人也被认为是“安倍经济学”拉动内需时面临的最大绊脚石。而更糟糕的问题是，越来越多的日本高龄人群开始放弃开车，并谴责社会将其孤立，这或许会使得已经严峻的日本经济形势更加雪上加霜。

这也是零售商头疼的一个问题，零售商希望进一步开发老年人的巨大购买力，但是发现想要让老年人网上购物是很困难的。

今年来，日本老年人向国家交还驾驶证的人数有所增加。这一现象可能也是日本邻国如韩国和中国这两个国家的先兆，因为这两个国家如同日本一样出现了人口老龄化现象。

人口老龄化在日本的影响已经相当明显：被称为“购物难民”的人群数量增加了，“购物难民”一般指离购物中心超过500米或者没有汽车的人，经济部估计，购物难民人数约有700万。

Seven & i控股有限公司，在乡村地区，老龄化问题更为严重。为了向偏远地区的老龄人提供便利，该公司通过迷你手推车去这些偏远地区居民区推出一些比较受欢迎的产品如饭团，三明治。

第一生命经济研究所经济学家熊野英生(Hideo Kumano)表示，这一问题没有好的解决办法，其中一个办法就是将资金投入到公交服务系统，因为老年人经常会得到旅游折扣，不让的话及显得非常不经济了。

解决问题难度很大，少数人质疑让老人放弃他们的驾驶权的想法，但事实是，老年人驾车是事故多发人群。

以下是日本各年龄段车祸比例，购买力以及交还驾驶证的对比：







Japanese Seniors Giving Up Driving Is Another Risk for Economy

More and more Japanese senior citizens are giving up driving, condemning many to social isolation,?and throwing up another challenge for an economy that's already under pressure from aging.

It's also a headache for retailers, who want to tap the substantial purchasing power of seniors, but find older consumers harder to reach via online shopping.


The number of elderly Japanese turning in their drivers' licenses has increased in recent years, and could be a harbinger for neighboring countries like South Korea and China, which also have aging populations.

The effect in Japan is already obvious: a growing number of?so-called shopping refugees, or people without a car who live more than 500 meters from a food store, and estimated to number about 7 million by the economy ministry.?

In the countryside, where aging is more pronounced, the problem is becoming acute, according to?Seven & i Holdings Co., which runs 7-Eleven convenience stores across Japan.?To reach elderly customers in remote areas, Seven & i is delivering popular items such as rice balls and sandwiches at their homes and in community centers via?mini pickup trucks.


There's no easy fix to the problem, said Hideo Kumano, an economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo. One option could be to have senior citizens, who often get travel discounts, to put in money to fund bus services that would otherwise be uneconomical to run, he said.

While solutions are difficult, few people question the wisdom of having elderly people give up their driving privileges: they're the ones involved in the most crashes.