Tag - population

 
 

POPULATION

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.
Most projections show the world will hit peak humanity in the 21st century as people choose to have smaller families and women gain power over their own reproduction.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 11, 2023
Don’t worry about global population collapse
While environmentalists have long warned of a planet with too many people, now some economists are warning of a future with too few.
Ayuko Kato, minister in charge of child policies, speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 4, 2023
Children's agency chief Ayuko Kato vows to tackle falling birthrate
One of the aims of the agency is to help implement the Children's Future Strategy, a plan that was announced as a way to reverse the declining birthrate.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at a government panel meeting on measures to tackle Japan's declining birthrate on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 3, 2023
Debate begins on funds to tackle Japan's low birthrate
The prime minister has instructed relevant ministers to draw up a road map for securing necessary funds by reducing social security spending.
Women make up 56.6% of Japan's elderly population, numbering 20.5 million compared with men, who stand at 15.7 million.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 18, 2023
People age 80 and over top 10% of Japan's population for first time
Women make up 56.6% of Japan's elderly population, numbering 20.5 million compared with men, who stood at 15.7 million.
Vietnamese staff work at a seafood processing firm in Yamada, Iwate Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 17, 2023
86% of municipalities across Japan want more foreign workers, survey says
The poll underscores the serious shortage of workers in farming and other key sectors as the country grapples with a declining population.
Japan's oldest person Fusa Tatsumi (center) is greeted by Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura (second from right) in Kashiwara, Osaka Prefecture, in September 2022.
JAPAN
Sep 15, 2023
Number of centenarians in Japan hits record 92,139
The number of those aged 100 or older as of Friday was up 1,613 from a year earlier for the 53th consecutive annual rise.

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals