Volunteer Activities and Social Welfare Needs in an Aging Society with Fewer Children

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From over a decade ago, I have been proposing as a practical counter measure, the adoption of a "Reciprocal Volunteer System" and the necessity of its adoption through-a legal implementation. However the general understanding of volunteer services is still confined to a marrow outlook and has been mistakenly confined to merely "charitable and benevolent" activities.In this research, while reviewing and systematically compiling the history and concept of volunteering activities, I have also investigated the awareness of its problems and instituted a search of its many inherent possibilities. In practical terms, (1) even though we are proceeding into the 21st century, the actual leading role of support shall continue to be fulfilled by women and their members of the younger generation and based upon that conclusion, our research was conducted on a national scale. On the other hand, (2) we also made an on site investigation of the progressive welfare states of the United Kingdom and Europe in search of anything new that we were not aware of and also took a further look at (3) the actual conditions ruling in the U.S. where volunteer activities are most popular. We also undertook a general insight into conditions ruling in China. A comparison is intended between the various results thereby obtained. At the present time, we have just about completed a compilation of the various data we have collated and completed their analyses from which we are making a final report on our onclusions. The results of 3 years of study are being made into a single publication that can be a constructive contribution to such studies.