人口定時炸彈：日本人“瀕危”的8個跡象

Prisons are turning into nursing homes.
監獄正變成養老院。

About one-fifth of all crime committed in Japan is done by the elderly. Most of it is petty theft and shoplifting.
日本約有五分之一的犯罪活動是老年人作案。其中大多數是小額偷盜和入店行竊。

As crime rates among the elderly rise, prisons have effectively turned into nursing homes. Guards are made to bathe the inmates and help them get dressed, and experts say living conditions are too good to keep recidivism rates down.
隨著老年人作案率的上升，監獄實際上正轉變成養老院。監獄看守不得不幫囚犯洗澡穿衣，專家說，監獄里的生活條件太好了，所以很難將累犯率降下來。

Normally, younger relatives would take care of the inmates once they're released. But in some cases the costs (and loneliness) are simply too much to bear in a troubled economy, and seniors look to prison as the better alternative.
正常情況下，囚犯被釋放后，會有年輕一些的親人來照看。但是在經濟不景氣的條件下，有些老人出獄后的開支（和孤獨）實在難以承受，所以他們將監獄視為更好的去處。

A doomsday clock counts down the seconds until extinction.
國家消亡的倒計時已經開始。

Over time, low, unchanging fertility rates (without additional immigration) could mean actual extinction for an entire country.
隨著時間流逝，不變的低生育率（又沒有移民流入）將意味著日本整個國家的消失。

In the short term, that could mean losing 34% of the country's population by 2100.
短期來看，這意味著日本人口將在2100年前減少34%。

Taking a longer view, Japanese researchers recently pinned down the expected date of extinction with a doomsday clock. The date, according to the latest fertility rates, is August 12, 3776.
長遠來看，日本研究人員已經用末日鐘算出了日本人滅絕的時間。根據最新的生育率來估算，日本滅絕的日期將是3776年8月12日。