
It's 'now or never' to stop Japan's shrinking population, PM says
Japanese Prime minister Fumio Kishida pledged on Monday to take urgent steps to tackle the country's declining birth rate, saying it was "now or never" for one of the world's oldest societies.
Jan 23 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime minister Fumio Kishida pledged on Monday to take urgent steps to tackle the country's declining birth rate, saying it was "now or never" for one of the world's oldest societies.
Japan has in recent years been trying to encourage its people to have more children with promises of cash bonuses and better benefits, but it remains one of the most expensive places in the world to raise a child, according to surveys.
Births plunged to a new record low last year, according to official estimates, dropping below 800,000 for the first time - a watershed moment that came eight years earlier than the government had expected.
That most likely precipitated a further population decline in a country where the median age is 49, the highest in the world behind only the tiny city-state of Monaco.
"Our nation is on the cusp of whether it can maintain its societal functions," Kishida said in a policy speech at the opening of this year's parliamentary session.
I gotta respect their dedication to their gene pool and not wanting to allow immigrants in… but their stubbornness will lead to their societal collapse.
Sayonara Japanese people… it was nice knowing of your ethnicity while it lasted. Thank you for Anime and for not making disgusting and inaccurate movies about us like the disgusting plastic surgery filled Langaab South Koreans.
Is Japan the end result of a Ethnosupremacist state the refuses to have kids? Will this be the future of Somali people once we are post industrial and developed?