Japan reports one million more deaths than births

Japan’s population is shrinking at levels not seen in the entire history of the country. Last year, the government reported around one million more deaths than births.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has described the demographic crisis of Japan’s ageing population as a “quiet emergency”, pledging family-friendly policies such as free childcare and more flexible work hours.

On Wednesday, August 6th, data released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications showed that the number of Japanese nationals fell by 908,574 in 2024, decreasing the total population to 120 million.

Population on decline 16 straight years

In 2009, Japan’s population reached a record-breaking 126.6 million inhabitants. Still, since then, the population has declined for 16 consecutive years, diminished by various factors like a struggling economy and deep-seated gender norms, according to the data.

The Japanese population is set to continue plummeting for decades to come, CNN reported, adding that the country will still feel the blow to its pension and health care systems, and other social infrastructure that is difficult to maintain with a shrinking workforce.

In an attempt to fight the declining population, the government has done everything from offering childbirth and housing subsidies to encouraging fathers to take paternity leave. 

The country has been trying to halt the population from decreasing for more than a decade, with efforts accelerating in recent years as the full scale of the crisis became clear.

However, the trend continues. Year after year, fewer babies are born, and more people are dying, a vicious cycle and a symptom of a population skewing older and older. 

30% of the population is elderly

The proportion of the elderly in the Asian country is much too elevated, accounting for nearly 30 per cent of the population, new data revealed. All the while, the proportion of younger adults, of child-bearing and working age, is continually shrinking.

The working-age population, defined as between 15 and 64, made up only 59 per cent of the population in Japan last year, which is far lower than the global average of 65 per cent, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

According to government models, which were most recently revised in 2023, Japan’s population will fall by 30 per cent by 2070 – but by then, “the pace of population decline is expected to slow down slightly, mainly due to the increase in international migration.”

The one solution that the government has analysed is the easing of immigration rules to allow more foreigners into Japan. Still, in a country that is perceived as highly xenophobic, racist and discriminatory, that solution might never actually be seriously considered.