DAVOS, Switzerland (Kyodo) Japan must increase immigration 11-fold to make up for its shrinking population, according to a study report issued Monday by the World Economic Forum.
The report focuses on the economic implications of slower labor-force growth and the nation's rapidly aging population. The forum said increased immigration "is among the remedies governments and business have at their disposal."
The forum released the report in the leadup to its annual meeting of government and business leaders that began Wednesday in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
"In many countries, current immigration rates would have to skyrocket, increasing by several multiples in some countries -- 2.5 times the current rate in Germany, 4.4 times in France and 11.0 times in Japan -- to make up for what they lack in birthrates," the report says.
It says Japan's share of total global output will be just half of the current 8 percent in 2050, assuming current demographic and economic trends hold. The European Union would see its share decline from 18 percent to 10 percent.
Noting that shrinking labor forces are common in developed countries, the report says retirees in Italy will outnumber active workers by 2030 and the EU will experience a significant decline in its working-age population.
Developing Asian countries, including China, as well as Central and South America, Africa and the Middle Eastern countries will all have surplus labor over the coming decades, it says.
The forum said capital deepening, technology investment and enticing additional workers into the labor force are among ways to help solve the problems posed by aging populations.
There is also a need to "develop ways to tap surplus labor pools in developing countries through greater economic integration than ever before," it said.