Japan Births Plummet to Record Low as Population Crisis Deepens

Wed Mar 01 2023
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Monitoring Desk 

 

ISLAMABAD/TOKYO: The number of births registered in Japan plummeted to a record low the previous year. The latest worrying statistics show Japan has failed to reverse the decreasing population despite their extensive efforts.

 

Japan’s Ministry of Health released data on Tuesday that showed the country saw 799,728 births in 2022, the lowest number on record and the first-ever dip below 800,000. 

That number has nearly halved in the previous 40 years in contrast to the recorded number of more than 1.5 million births in 1982. Japan reported record-high post-war deaths the previous year at more than 1.58 million. Deaths have outpaced births in Japan for over a decade, posing a growing issue for leaders of the world’s third-largest economy. 

 

They now face a ballooning elderly population and a shrinking workforce to fund pensions and health care as the demand from the aging population surges.

 

Country population reduction

 

According to the latest government data, the country’s population has been steadily reduced since its economic increase in the 1980s and stood at 125.5 million in 2021, 

Its fertility rate of 1.3 is far under the rate of 2.1 required to maintain a stable population in the absence of immigration.

 

The country has one of the highest life expectancies in the globe. In 2020, nearly one in 1,500 citizens in Japan were aged 100 or older, according to government data.

 

This concerning trend prompted a warning in January from Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister, that country is “on the brink of not being able to maintain public functions.”

 

He said, “in thinking of the sustainability and inclusiveness of our country’s economy and society, we place child-rearing support as our important policy,” He added that Japan “simply can’t wait any longer” in solving the issue of its low birth rate.

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