Japan’s struggle to encourage couples to have more children has been given greater urgency after data showed the annual number of births dropped to below 700,000 for the first time since records began more than a century ago.
According to government data released this week, the number of births reached 686,061 in 2024, a decline of 5.7% from the previous year and the lowest since statistics were first kept in 1899. The data excludes babies born to foreign residents.
The fertility rate – the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime – also fell to a record-low of 1.15, down from 1.20 in 2023, the health ministry said. That is well below the rate of 2.1 needed to keep the population stable. The ministry said 1.6m deaths had been recorded in 2024, up 1.9% from a year earlier.
If current trends persists, Japan’s population of about 124 million is projected to fall to 87 million by 2070, when 40% of the population will be 65 or over.
A shrinking and ageing population could have serious implications for the economy and national security, as the country seeks to boost its military to counter potential threats from China and North Korea.
Anyone from Japan want to chime in on this for me? I get the impression that the age demographics in Japan are going to become a burden but that most Japanese people are okay with that. I’ve heard that immigration is massively unpopular over there, which would imply that cultural homogeneity is more important than economic growth and quality of life. I guess if that’s what people in Japan want, it’s their choice to make but I don’t actually know if this is the sentiment.
Many people considering migration of course look at Japan - but it seems extremely poor choice, for naturalization is probably the hardest worldwide,lasting some decades, and you’ll never become japanese “for real”, maybe your grandchildren, if you first decide to have children in a place where nobody does. Kind of stupid investment. Japanese culture is awesome though, but it’s ok to enjoy it while living elsewhere IMHO.
This forum gets 63 users a day so your appeal is likely to go unanswered. And even if an eccentric English-speaking degrowth-oriented Jap did chime in, that would be a very skewed sample size of 1 - not much use for drawing conclusions compared to, say, a poll.
That said, my understanding is roughly the same as yours. They’re worried about it but not enough to consider mass immigration, which would undermine their prized social cohesion. They would prefer solutions to come from technology (robots) and labor reforms if at all possible. But - things are not panning out perfectly and low-skilled immigration for the healthcare sector is in fact rising. Mostly from SE Asia where the culture is considered sufficiently compatible. Philippines in particular.
I could tell from my POV, there is a need for foreign labor in Japan. It was even announced at the Japanese embassy (in my country) most of the labor needed to care for the elderly.
another example just a few months ago https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2025/02/59f0c75e44f4-indonesian-bus-driver-to-be-1st-to-work-under-new-japan-visa-status.html
You can also take a look at r/japanlife, most of them are foreigners from western countries.