Rapid Decline in Japan's Population Observed in 2024
Japan Faces Population Decline and Aging Society
Japan is grappling with a declining population and an aging society, with the current population standing at 124.3 million people. According to the World Bank, Japan has the second-oldest population in the world, after Monaco, with 30% of the country's population being Japanese nationals aged 65 or over. This demographic shift is a "quiet emergency" according to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
The population decline is primarily due to long-standing structural factors such as economic insecurity, high costs of living, work pressure, and changing social norms that lead people to have fewer children. Economic factors like high cost of living, expensive childcare, job insecurity, and pressure to work long hours discourage having more children. Social changes, such as lifestyle choices and evolving societal norms, also lead to delayed marriage and fewer births. The aging population, with more deaths than births each year, compounds these demographic challenges.
In an attempt to reverse this trend, the government is pursuing various solutions. These include increasing family support through improved childcare services and free daycare, promoting better work-life balance with flexible working hours to alleviate work pressure on parents, and considering more open immigration policies to supplement the labor force and population. However, the rise of anti-immigration parties has complicated efforts to address the issue through foreign labor inflow.
These anti-immigration parties, with nationalist slogans like "Japanese First," are gaining popularity despite demographic and economic arguments for welcoming more foreign residents. Foreign nationals already make up nearly 3% of the population, with the number of foreign nationals in Japan as of January 1, 2025, at 3.67 million people, which is the highest since records began in 2013.
Despite the opposition, foreign nationals are contributing to addressing labor shortages in Japan due to its aging population. The population is growing in the capital city, Tokyo, and Chiba Prefecture, offering a glimmer of hope in the face of the population decline.
In the face of these challenges, the government is planning to implement more measures to counter the population decline trend. However, the influence of anti-immigration parties may constrain one potential avenue to mitigate Japan’s shrinking workforce and population decline.
References:
- Japan Times
- Nikkei Asia
- World Bank
- Monaco Government
- The Guardian
- The World Bank identifies Japan as having the second-oldest population in the world, with 30% of its population aged 65 or over.
- Economic factors, such as high cost of living and job insecurity, discourage having more children in Japan, resulting in a declining population.
- Anti-immigration parties, growing in popularity with slogans like "Japanese First," complicate efforts to address Japan's population decline through foreign labor inflow.
- Despite the opposition, foreign nationals are contributing to addressing labor shortages in Japan and are a potential avenue for mitigating its population decline.
