The demographic decline is unstoppable, risks by social status
In 2024 for the first time births in Japan went down to 700,000, confirming the downward demographic propensity of the last few years. Based on the data of the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Tokyo, in the first 11 months of the year just ended the number of new born, including foreigners, it fell by 5.1% to 661,577 units, underlining the trend in progress Do not get married or delay marriage, in part due to the increase in the cost of living, and to the persistent effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The births in the country recorded a constant flexion, descending below 900,000 in 2019 and under 800,000 in 2022, until in 2023 a level of 727,277, the historical minimum since comparable data were made available, in 1899. At the same time the wedding number is estimated at around 475 thousand in 2024, more or less in line with 2023.
Initially the National Research Institute on the population and social security (IPSS) had estimated that the figure for 2024 would have seen a slight rise to 755,000 units, with births that would drop below 700,000 units by 2038.
In the face of the demographic problem, Japan face a lack of labor that seriously threatens the sustainability of social security, primarily health care and the pension system. The lack of labor in various sectors, from nursing care, also worries, to the absence of various services in the rural areas of the country. The government measures to increase the birth rate, including the expansion of subsidies for childhood assistance, and the benefits for parental leave, are not considered sufficient.
