Impact of aging on time allocation and energy consumption patterns in Japan and Spain

Abstract

Societal human time allocation and energy use are strongly interconnected through industrialization. Although technology boosts productivity, shifting labor from primary to tertiary sectors, population aging affects this pattern by increasing demand for caregiving services and reducing available time for paid work, thereby affecting energy use and allocation. This chapter investigates changes in time allocation across key economic sectors in Japan and Spain over the past 20 years and discusses how population aging has driven these changes. Additional influencing factors are identified that may complicate the interpretation of these effects, such as the proportion of unemployed individuals, homemakers, students, and immigrants. Notably, a decrease in the number of homemakers and students offsets the increase in the number of retirees, leading to a higher overall proportion of employees. Using the MuSIASEM framework, we analyze changes in human activity allocation and the exosomatic energy metabolic rate across sectors. This analysis provides a socio-metabolic perspective on population aging and seeks to identify its potential effects on technology use, societal time, and energy consumption.