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
Wall Street Journal (January 17)
“China last year ceded its centuries-old position as the world’s most populous country to India.” Births in 2023 fell by over half a million, “to just over 9 million in total, accelerating the decline in the country’s population as women shrugged off the government’s exhortations to reproduce.”
Tags: 2023, Accelerating, Births, Ceded, China, Decline, Exhortations, Government, India, Population, Populous, Shrugged, Women
National Review (July 27)
“Japan Is disappearing.” The nation’s “population declined by 800,000 in the last year,” marking “14 consecutive years during which deaths outnumbered births. The mathematics of population decline get really desperate from here on out…. This problem is far too large for immigration to solve.”
Tags: Births, Deaths, Declined, Desperate, Disappearing.” Population, Immigration, Japan, Mathematics, Outnumbered, Solve
The Economist (November 24)
“American families are increasingly hard to distinguish from European ones.” Though the economy has improved, “births continue to drop. America’s total fertility rate, which can be thought of as the number of children the average woman will bear, has fallen from 2.12 to 1.77. It is now almost exactly the same as England’s rate, and well below that of France.”
Bloomberg Businessweek (February 14)
After enjoying a modest “baby bump,” births in China “are again trending down, despite the two-child policy.” Beijing’s inability “to ignite a baby boom is cause for concern in policy circles.” Recently, the China Daily, a state-owned newspaper, wrote, “There is growing concern that the country may experience a demographic time bomb, because in the decades to come the number of young people is likely to fall below the number required to maintain an optimum level of employment.” For that matter, China’s working-age population has “been shrinking since 2012 and fell by 5 million last year.”0
Tags: Baby bump, Births, China, China Daily, Concern, Demographic time bomb, Optimum employment, Population, Shrinking, Working-age
