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Japanese will become extinct unless the nation's birthrate stops shrinking, Health Minister Chikara Sakaguchi said yesterday.
Commenting on a slumping birthrate that means Japan's population of 127 million could start shrinking in 2007, he said, "If we go on this way, the Japanese race will become extinct."
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi earlier told the Cabinet to encourage people to have children by providing better welfare services and making it easier to work while raising children.
Figures issued in April show the number of children under 15 in Japan has fallen for 21 straight years and now accounts for only 14.3 per cent of the population, the lowest on record. A UN report in 2000 shows Japan is graying so quickly it will need to import about 600,000 workers annually until 2050 to keep its working population stable. By then, if Japan follows the UN suggestion, nearly one-third of the population would be of foreign descent. -Reuters
It seems that now might be the best time to go to Japan...
Commenting on a slumping birthrate that means Japan's population of 127 million could start shrinking in 2007, he said, "If we go on this way, the Japanese race will become extinct."
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi earlier told the Cabinet to encourage people to have children by providing better welfare services and making it easier to work while raising children.
Figures issued in April show the number of children under 15 in Japan has fallen for 21 straight years and now accounts for only 14.3 per cent of the population, the lowest on record. A UN report in 2000 shows Japan is graying so quickly it will need to import about 600,000 workers annually until 2050 to keep its working population stable. By then, if Japan follows the UN suggestion, nearly one-third of the population would be of foreign descent. -Reuters
It seems that now might be the best time to go to Japan...