Japan’s leader unveiled a plan on June 13 to reverse the country’s falling birthrate, warning that Japan has entered its “last chance” period to address the crisis and avoid facing a “shrinking” society.
“Now is the last chance to reverse the downtrend in childbirth by the 2030s,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at a press conference.
The number of newborns in Japan fell to 770,747 in 2022, down 40,875 from the previous year and the lowest since the country began record-keeping in 1899, according to the Health Ministry data released on June 2.
Japan’s fertility rate—the average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime—fell from 1.3 in 2021 to 1.26 last year. The number is far below the 2.07 rate necessary to sustain a stable population….