third largest economy in the world
after the US and China. One notable characteristic of the economy is
the working together of manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors in
closely-knit groups called keiretsu. A second basic feature has been
the guarantee of lifetime employment for a substantial portion of the
urban labor force. Both features are now eroding. Industry, the most
important sector of the economy, is heavily dependent on imported raw
materials and fuels. The much smaller agricultural sector is highly
subsidized and protected, with crop yields among the highest in the
world. Usually self-sufficient in rice, Japan must import about 50%
of its requirements of other grain and fodder crops. Japan maintains
one of the world's largest fishing fleets and accounts for nearly 15%
of the global catch. For three decades overall real economic growth had
been spectacular: a 10% average in the 1960s, a 5% average in the 1970s,
and a 4% average in the 1980s. Growth slowed markedly in the 1990s largely
because of the aftereffects of overinvestment during the late 1980s and
contractionary domestic policies intended to wring speculative excesses
from the stock and real estate markets. Government efforts to revive
economic growth have met with little success and were further hampered
in 2000-01 by the slowing of the US and Asian economies. The crowding
of habitable land area and the aging of the population are two major
long-run problems. Robotics constitutes a key long-term economic strength,
with Japan possessing 410,000 of the world's 720,000 "working robots".

GDP: purchasing power parity - $3.45 trillion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: -0.3% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $27,200 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 2% industry: 36% services: 62%
(2000 est.)

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 4.8%
highest 10%: 21.7% (1993)

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 24.9 (1993)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): -0.6% (2001 est.)

Labor force: 67.7 million (December 2000)

Labor force - by occupation: services 65%, industry 30%, agriculture 5%

Unemployment rate: 4.9% (2001)

Budget: revenues: $441 billion expenditures: $718 billion, including
capital expenditures (public works only) of about $84 billion (FY01/02
est.)

Industries: among world's largest and technologically advan