The following fact is erky, but it is instructive: in Japan, more nappies are being sold for adults than for babies.

The demography of this, for Japan, equals a pincer movement. Japan has a declining population, a very low birth rate, and 25 million people who are over the age of 65 - one in five of the population. It has only 13 million children under the age of 14. Hence the nappy demographics. This raises the question of how Japan will shoulder its future debt burden (Japan's public debt is 245 per cent of gross domestic product, almost 10 times the level of Australia's) with a declining, ageing population.

Illustration: michaelmucci.com

The world is familiar with Japan's squeeze between demographics and debt. Less familiar is the pincer movement taking place in Australia. It is different to Japan's but also features the intersection of debt and demography.

The greatest expression of Australia's cultural crunch is in the nation's real religion - property. First-home buyers are increasingly unable to gain a foothold in home ownership. As the Herald reported on Saturday: ''While the housing market has reached boom levels in a low interest-rate environment, first-home buyers are being squeezed out of the property market, making up a record low 6.8per cent of new housing loan commitments in NSW in September, a sharp fall from the peak of 34 per cent in May 2009.''