• Japanese baby boomers: born between 1947 and 1949
• 7 million = 9% of the entire Japanese population

• TEINEN is a Japanese word of compulsory retirement age
• Most companies have the plan at the age of 60
• A new Japanese act in April 2006 urges companies
  • to increase the mandatory retirement age to 65 by 2013
  • to have a program of extension of employment
  • to demolish the Teinen plan
• At the year 2007, Japanese baby boomers reach the age of 60

• Persons having contributed for 40 years from age 20 to 60 qualify for receiving full benefit amount of the old-age basic pension (794,500 yen in FY2005).
• Enrollment in an Employees’ Pension Insurance system or a Mutual Aid Association shall be from the date employed to the retirement. Benefit amount reflects enrollment period and salaries during employment.

Each country has its own "social security systems," which have been formed based on its nationality and values and reflect the social systems, economic situation and political conditions of the country. There are therefore a lot of differences in the mechanisms of and in services or benefits provided under the systems among countries. For example, public pension systems differ with countries in terms of financial resources, the premium level, ages at which the benefits begin to be provided, benefit levels, and requirements for receiving benefits. International comparisons of the social security systems should be made based on the recognition that there are diversified differences in the systems of each country. If made without such recognition, it might lead to misunderstanding.

In the first place, each country has its own definition of social security.

For example in the United Kingdom, social security means income security such as pensions and child allowances, while Japan's definition of social security systems includes those called "social policy" or "social services" in the United Kingdom. The "social policy" or "social services" have a wide range of meaning: income security, medical care (called "national health service" in the United Kingdom), personal social services, housing policies, education and employment.

Also in the United States, "social security" is often defined as income security such as pensions. The welfare services provided in Japan are called "human services." In the United States, "welfare" usually points to services that are funded by tax revenues and provided after the status inquiry, especially to the temporary assistance to needy families (TANF). The U.S. Social Security Act, however, is a comprehensive law, which provides for unemployment insurance, health services for fatherless families, human services for people with disabilities, medical services for the elderly and medical assistance in addition to pension insurance for ensuring income.

In France, social security ("Securite Sociale" in French) means social insurance such as sickness insurance and old-age insurance. In addition to Social insurance, social assistance (provision of cash and services to the ill, people with disabilities or to the elderly who have cleared the income criteria), social services (other social welfare services provided without an income limit) and the minimum income level security system for independence are collectively called "Protection Social."