Financial Times (February 27)
Although “some demographic experts had been hopeful of a pent-up baby boom in Japan following the pandemic,” 2024 confirmed the worst. “The number of babies born in Japan last year fell to the lowest level since records began 125 years ago as the country’s demographic crisis deepens and government efforts to reverse the decline continue to fail.” For nine years straight, “the decline in births has continued unabated…. Combined with a record 1.6mn deaths last year, the figures mean Japan’s population shrank by almost 900,000 people, net of immigration.”
Tags: 2024, Babies, Baby boom, Births, Deaths, Decline, Demographic crisis, Experts, Fail, Government, Immigration, Japan, Pandemic, Pent-up, Population, Record
Financial Times (October 21)
“Investors should expect decades of selling pressure on Japanese stocks from the most implacable bears in the market: the recently deceased…. The relentless sell-off, which threatens to intensify until the year 2040 as the huge, wealthy postwar baby boom generation expires, arises from an estimate that about 80 per cent of inherited shares are immediately sold by heirs.”
Tags: Baby boom, Bears, Deceased, Heirs, Inherited, Investors, Japan, Market, Selling pressure, Stocks
