Japan's demographic woes continue even as the Abe administration has placed the fight against depopulation high on its policy agenda. The January-June figures indicate that the number of births in 2014 may fall short of 1 million for the first time, and that deaths will likely outnumber births at a pace faster than in the previous year.
The government should keep up its effort to expand public support for childbirths and child-rearing, but we need to realize that such efforts are not going to reverse the long-term population downtrend anytime soon — or even for decades.
The administration has set the goal of maintaining Japan's population around 100 million five decades from now — the first time a specific number has been cited by the government in its policies on demographics — after the recent alarming figures reminded it that declining population will be a serious drag on the nation's economic growth and put the future of its social security programs in doubt.