For the 14th year running, Japan's population has slumped to a record low. The non-foreign native population dropped by 898,000 in 2024, representing an unprecedented fall in the nation of 120.3 million people.
https://www.dw.com/en/japan-sees-record-drop-in-population/a-72239612
27 Comments
Meanwhile the government does nothing to reduce working hours or increase pay so they can afford children
If Japan is not careful they could have the same future of demographic collapse as South Korea 😬
Submission Statement Summary
Japan’s population fell to 120.3 million as of October 2024 according to newly released official data. This marks a record drop of 898,000 people from the previous year. For 14 straight years now, the Japanese population has declined. Adult diapers drastically oversell diapers for children.
Japan’s birth rate is among the lowest in the world, and the government has not been able to figure out a way to increase the number in spite of years of efforts.
According to the internal affairs ministry, the 2024 population decline was the largest fall on record since the government began collecting comparable data in 1950.
The government has been trying to offer assistance to young families who wish to have children, but feel they cannot due to economic reasons, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi. The double whammy trend of low birth rates and declining populations is rapidly spreading across East Asia and Europe.
Japan, pay me to come live there and I totally will.
I am essentially useless though.
Japan’s grueling work culture, encouraging 100 hour weeks and loyalty to the company above all is the primary problem. No one has time for children.Â
I’m surprised that they haven’t gone full artificial insemination and raised by AI robots yet. Some sort of dystopian cross between that stupid Raised by Wolves show and The Matrix.
This is going to hit most countries that it hasn’t already. A lot has to do with sustainability. Japan also has a severe loneliness problem too.
Italy is another country facing this crisis. US is also very likely headed this way as well, especially as late stage capitalism takes hold.
Been 15 years since Iived in Japan but their work culture can fuck right off. Can’t raise a family with both parents being on 60+ work weeks(but really 80-90 because the boss needs you to stay after to finish a project). Don’t forget the unschedule business social or mandatory nomikai. Can’t stay after for the 11th day in a row? Zannen desu ne…..It will really hurt everyone else who shows dedication to seeing our business succeed…..are you sure you need to be home for your child? They will become too coddled and unable to take care of themselves you know.
Well given AI is supposed to cause the loss of most jobs within 10 years, and they are highly advanced technically, they are in a better position than almost every other country to deal with mass unemployment.
I’m curious about the following: How much population does Japan or the world for that matter, need?
One point that shocked me during COVID, is how few people we need to keep a society going?
A shrinking population with strict immigration and rising costs — Japan’s biggest challenge isn’t tech, it’s sustainability. If the next generation can’t afford to exist, the future won’t either.
Crazy how many countries are having this issue and “make life better” is just never in the cards
Japan work culture sucks but not the main issue. It’s happening in pretty much all industrialised countries, including scandivian countries.
Great work, Japan! Focus on the best elder-care in the world and keep at it. The human population has doubled from 4 billion to 8 billion since I was born, in 1979. Anyone who implies differently or says there’s a population ‘problem’ is trying to sell you something. The major issue is that caring for ourselves and our parents in a primarily elderly population requires a lot of shared resources and social welfare programs, and a lot of people just don’t like that.
There will be no incentive to have children in Japan until they change their toxic work culture by law.
At what point to things become too dire to correct? Taiwan and South Korea are quickly approaching 1.0. I’m not even convinced that UBI can solve this issue. At some point pension systems are going to collapse as younger people can no longer afford to support the ever-increasing elderly population.
Immigration? Perhaps, but that has its own issues with competing/conflicting cultures. Not to mention competing with other nations for skilled immigrants.
This trend is being seen in an alarming amount of places too.
Then the government should be less xenophobic and allow more immigrants
Why would anyone want to give more birth into this fucked up world where our governments require us to work our lives away until we crumble into dust?
It’s strange that they want migrants to fill up these gaps. But most of them just told me they straight up expoited them for minimum wage jobs and their condition didn’t even improve after a year or two.
The shock, the horror! Seriously, 120 million is PLENTY enough people. This insatiable need for more consumption is disgusting and sociopathic.
Japan’s prejudice and racism towards foreigners will only accelerate their population decline
They still have 120 million people on that little archipelago. They can figure out the financial problem of this and be better off in the long run.Â
Strange, my JAV search history says there isn’t problem for the Japanese people to fornicate everywhere 🤔
Who would even want to have kids in a world like this, full stop? From Chile to Germany to South Korea. It’s variations of the same.
The perception is that you need money to increase birth rates. This is what surveys tell you say when you ask people. But the data doesn’t back that up. The poor are not having lower birth rates. So all the governments trying to give money to get people to have kore kids are barking up the wrong tree. People truly believe if they just had more money they will have more kids. But we live in one of the most affluent times in human history.
Japan has a triple whammy of very low birth rates, populations that live a very long time (and therefore require many years of social services), and an incredibly high debt to GDP ratio. They’re simply not going to have the money to take care of their own. No one wants austerity, but austerity is going to be forced upon them within a few years
It’s going to surpass 1 million each year soon. Projections are now that the total population will be around 85 million in 2070.
Still a lot of people of course, but the elderly will make up around 40% of that by then.
It will likely be a other million, and another, and another, for decades to come with it increasing to two million…three…four.
I don’t see any easy way to reverse this trend and the reality is going to keep hitting home in countries that have been below replacement for prolonged periods of time with it only deepening.