Tag - population

 
 

POPULATION

Of 1,729 local municipalities nationwide, 744 have been identified as being at risk of disappearing.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 24, 2024
Over 40% of Japan's municipalities at risk of vanishing, study finds
The Tohoku region takes the top spot in both the number and percentage of municipalities at risk of disappearing due to a sharp population decline.
Recent research suggests that within developed countries, the old positive relationship between status and fertility is re-emerging.
COMMENTARY
Apr 3, 2024
The wealthy are starting to have more babies than the poor again
After a century during which higher income and status meant fewer children, the current trend is potentially a momentous change.
Shi Pong Hsu, 75, makes coffee in a Singapore coffee shop. The city-state's government projects that almost a quarter of its population will be 65 or over by 2030.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 10, 2024
Singapore is bracing for a super-aging society
Japan and South Korea may be the poster children for low birthrates, but Singapore is confronting its own decline. Its solution? Bonuses for nurses.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the government would draw up a political policy package for the next three years or so for system reforms allowing the country's competitiveness and birthrate to improve by 2030.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 1, 2024
Japan may have lowest per capita GDP among major economies in 2060
The government estimate is likely to materialize if the country's productivity growth remains low as in recent years and the population continues to fall.
An employee organizes baby supplies at a store in Siheung, South Korea, on Tuesday. A lack of babies is speeding up the aging of South Korean society, generating concerns about the growing fiscal burden of public pensions and healthcare.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Feb 28, 2024
South Korea keeps shattering its own record for lowest fertility rate
The number of babies expected per woman in a lifetime fell to 0.72 last year from 0.78 in 2022.
The number of babies born in Japan in 2023 fell to a record low, government data shows.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 27, 2024
Japan births hit record low and population down by largest margin in 2023
The 2023 figure declined by 5.1% from the previous year's preliminary total of 799,728, the largest ever margin of decline.
Moody’s predicts China's potential economic growth will decline to 3.5% by 2030, with weaker demographics and a graying population being a major driver of the slowdown.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2024
China’s economic engine is running out of fuel
Moody’s now predicts that China's annual economic growth will fall to 4% in 2024 and 2025, before slowing further, to 3.8%, on average, for the rest of the decade.
Pedestrians in Piazza Cordusio in Milan. Europe's fertility rate has been stuck around 1.5 births per woman for the past decade.
WORLD / Society / ANALYSIS
Feb 16, 2024
How Europe can dodge a birth rate hard landing
Europe's fertility rate has been stuck around 1.5 births per woman for the past decade, far short of the 2.1 needed to maintain population levels.
Opening up to foreign workers may ultimately be Japan’s best hope for stemming a rapid population decline.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 7, 2024
Record 2 million foreign workers are changing the face of Japan
Opening up to job seekers from abroad may ultimately be the country's best hope of stemming a rapid population decline.
Migrants on a beach at sunrise after a failed attempt to cross the Channel to the U.K. on a small boat, in Sangatte, near Calais, France, in August 2023.
WORLD / Society
Feb 2, 2024
U.K. says migration likely to drive stronger population growth
While the trend will help boost the economy, it will also exacerbate a rift within Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s ruling Conservative Party.
Tokyo's net population inflow rose for the second consecutive year in 2023, reflecting a recovery in the number of people relocating to the capital after pandemic-related restrictions were eased.
JAPAN
Jan 31, 2024
Tokyo's net population inflow rose to 68,000 in 2023
The net population inflow, or the number of people moving into Tokyo minus those moving out, rose for the second consecutive year.
Vietnamese people take Japanese lessons in Hanoi in June 2023 before heading to Japan to work.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2024
Number of foreign workers in Japan surpasses 2 million for first time
Tokyo has the largest population of foreign workers, followed by Aichi and Osaka prefectures.
China's birthrate has been plummeting for decades as a result of the one-child policy implemented from 1980 to 2015 and its rapid urbanization during that period.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Jan 17, 2024
China's population drops for second year, adding to growth concerns
A plunging birthrate and a wave of COVID-19 deaths accelerated a downturn that will have long-term economic effects.
Akio Mimura, honorary chairman of Nippon Steel and head of a private panel focused on depopulation, submits the group's proposal to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 10, 2024
Japan should aim to maintain population of 80 million by 2100: panel
A group comprising academics and business leaders say a higher target than the projected 63 million is needed to maintain economic growth.
Young men and women celebrate Coming of Age Day in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Jan. 11, 2016.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 31, 2023
Japan's 18-year-olds at record-low 1.06 million on falling births
In Japan, the age of adulthood was lowered from 20 to 18 in April 2022 in a bid to encourage active social participation by youth.
A Palestinian child cries next to his mother after they were rushed to a hospital following an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip on Nov. 13. Fighting erupted after Hamas conducted a coordianated attack against Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians. More than 20,000 people in Gaza have died in the  conflict, according to the enclave’s health ministry.
WORLD
Dec 27, 2023
Images of 2023: World
Images of 2023: From war in the Gaza Strip and in Ukraine to concerns in Asia over North Korea and China, conflict took center stage in 2023.
Tokyo is the only prefecture whose population is projected to grow from 2020 to 2050, increasing 2.5% to 14.40 million.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 24, 2023
Only Tokyo is expected to see population growth in Japan
Eleven prefectures will each see their population shrink by over 30% amid a falling birthrate.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un waves as he takes poses for photos during the Fifth National Mothers' Convention in Pyongyang.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 13, 2023
Kim Jong Un admits rare weakness as North Korea population falls
The rare admission indicates Kim is just as worried about a demographic crunch as he is about the U.S. forces that he says want to end his regime.
The simplest option for many Japanese industries facing labor shortages might be to do what the taxi sector is doing — keep people in the workforce longer.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 26, 2023
Octogenarian taxi drivers to the labor-crunch rescue
An option for many Japanese industries facing labor shortages might be to do what the taxi sector is doing — keep people in the workforce longer.
As of the end of June, 3,223,858 foreigners resided in Japan, up 148,645 from the end of December 2022, the Immigration Services Agency announced Friday.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 14, 2023
Number of foreign residents in Japan rises to record 3.2 million
As of the end of June, 3,223,858 foreigners resided in Japan, up 148,645 from the end of December 2022, according to the Immigration Services Agency.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores