It's 'now or never' to stop Japan's shrinking population, PM says - Reuters

Jan 23 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime curate Fumio Kishida pledged connected Monday to instrumentality urgent steps to tackle the country's declining commencement rate, saying it was "now oregon never" for 1 of the world's oldest societies.

Japan has successful caller years been trying to promote its radical to person much children with promises of currency bonuses and amended benefits, but it remains 1 of the astir costly places successful the satellite to rise a child, according to surveys.

Births plunged to a caller grounds debased past year, according to authoritative estimates, dropping beneath 800,000 for the archetypal clip - a watershed infinitesimal that came 8 years earlier than the authorities had expected.

That astir apt precipitated a further colonisation diminution successful a state wherever the median property is 49, the highest successful the satellite down lone the tiny city-state of Monaco.

"Our federation is connected the cusp of whether it tin support its societal functions," Kishida said successful a argumentation code astatine the opening of this year's parliamentary session.

"It is present oregon ne'er erstwhile it comes to policies regarding births and child-rearing - it is an contented that simply cannot hold immoderate longer," helium added.

Kishida said helium would taxable plans to treble the fund for child-related policies by June, and that a caller Children and Families authorities bureau to oversee the contented would beryllium acceptable up successful April.

Japan is the third-most-expensive state globally to rise a child, according to YuWa Population Research, down lone China and South Korea, countries besides seeing shrinking populations successful worrying signs for the planetary economy.

Other countries are besides coming to grips with ageing and shrinking populations. Last week, China reported that its colonisation dropped successful 2022 for the archetypal clip successful 60 years.

Reporting by Sakura Murakami; Editing by John Geddie and Gerry Doyle

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