| 5.4 |
The Comparison of the Elderly Care Resources in Sweden and in
Japan |
I write the
comparative table as follows.
| Table.19 |
Elderly Care Resources in Sweden and In Japan |
|
JAPAN |
SWEDEN |
| Aging Rate (>65) |
12.1% |
17.80% |
| Elderly (>65) |
14 930,000 |
l,530,000 |
| Home Helper |
38,000 |
72,400 |
| Sheltered Housing |
0 |
41,700
( Servicehus ) |
| Old Age Home |
85,000 |
37,200
(Åderdomshem ) |
| Nursing Home for Aged |
162,000 |
36,000
( Sjukhem ) |
| Geriatric Hospital |
148,000 |
16.000
(långvårdklinik)
* |
| Group Living |
0 |
5,100
( Gruppboende ) |
(Source:
|
Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare in Japan "Facts sheets in Sweden" ) |
*
|
After ÄDEL-reformen there are no "långvårdklinik"
any more. But this table is the comparison in 1990, so there is långvårdklinik. |
The elderly population in Japan is ten times more than that
in Sweden. So by dividing Japanese statistic by ten, we can compare the actual resources.
There is no sheltered housing in Japan (Since 1991 the
public sheltered housing started to be built in Japan also) . And the
number of home-helpers are very few. The elderly care resources are
much less in Japan. It can be explained that in Japan the families usually
take care of them at home.
Table . 20
|
Elderly Care Resources in Sweden and in Japan
per 100 Elderly Population(>65) |
|
|
JAPAN |
SWEDEN |
| Sheltered Housing |
0.0 |
2.7
( Servicehus ) |
| Old Age Home |
(0.6)* |
2.4
( Ålderdomshem ) |
| Nursing Home for Aged |
l.1 |
2.4
( Sjukhem ) |
| Geriatric Hospital |
1.0 |
1.0
( LångvårdkIinik ) |
| Group Living |
0.0 |
0.3 |
| Total |
2.1 |
8.8 |
| Home Helper |
0.24 ** |
4.73 ** |
*
|
Old Age Home in Japan is the facility for the poor elderly
who is physically independent. So this ratio is not included
to the TOTAL percentage. |
|
** |
number of home helpers per l00 elderly(>65) |
Table . 2 l
|
Elderly Care Resources in Sweden and in Japan per
100 Elderly Population ( > 80 )
|
| |
JAPAN |
SWEDEN |
| Sheltered Housing |
0.0 |
10.1
( Servicehus ) |
| Old Age Home |
(2.7)* |
9.8
( Ålderdomshem ) |
| Nursing Home for Aged |
5.2 |
9.5
( Sjukhem ) |
| Geriatric Hospital |
4.7 |
4.2
( LångvårdkIinik ) |
| Group Living |
0.0 |
1.3
(
Gruppboende ) |
| Total |
9.9 |
34 . 9 |
| Population over 80 |
3 . 140 .000
(2.5%) |
380 ,000
(4.4%) |
*
|
Old Age Home in Japan is the facility for the poor elderly who is physically independent . So this ratio is not included to the TOTAL percentage. |
If
elderly people can not live alone because of physical or mental handicap, what happens in both countries?
In Japan, first of all the elderly tries to move to their children's house. Because home help service is not so developed in Japan. And if no children can take care of them, the elderly tries to move to the nursing homes or to the geriatric hospitals. But most of the case, they must wait one or two years to move to the nursing homes. So most of the cases they move to geriatric hospitals, even if they are not so sick. Most of all Japanese geriatric hospitals are private and profit-making. So they welcome such healthy -not so sick-elderly also.
In
Sweden, they can get the home help service. And if they can not manage at home with the help of the home helpers, they move to old age homes or nursing homes or sheltered housings. The number of such institutions and sheltered housing in Sweden is 136,000 per
1.53 million elderly population(>65). It means 8.8%of the elderly population. On the contrary, in Japan the ratio is 2.l %.
What does this gap 6.7% mean?
The
population over 80 years old in 1990 in both countries is
as follows;
In Japan 3,140,000 (2.5%),In
Sweden 380,000 (4.4%)
One of the explanation is that there are more
old-old elderly
in Sweden, so in Sweden there are more facilities. But this is not the main explanation.
In
Japan the home help service is much less developed than in Sweden. But
only 2.1% of the elderly population (>65) stay at the institutions.
It means that in Japan the elderly who have severe mental or physical handicap also stay at home and cared by the families.
But the family care-givers usually have no special knowledge how to take care of the elderly.
So they let the elderly stay on the beds every day. This is one of the biggest reasons why there are so many bedridden elderly in Japan.
|
