Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida‘s advisor Masako Mori recently said in an interview in Tokyo that Japan’s declining birth rate could put the country into an existential crisis.
On February 28th, Japan published a report that the birth rate in 2022 was the lowest in its recorded history. After the report was published, Mori, citing the report, said that Japan’s existence is in crisis and its future generations are in danger.
According to the report, Japan’s death rate was twice the birth rate in 2022. Worried, Kishida vowed to double the spending on children and families shortly afterwards.
Notably, Japan’s population has decreased from 128m in 2008 to 125m at present, and experts fear that the rate of population decline is faster than predicted.
In this context, Mori said that due to Japan’s declining birth rate children born today would be thrown into a society which is distorted, shrunk and unable to function properly.
She added that Japan’s social security system, industrial policy, and economic strength would collapse if no action is taken now. Japan would not even have defence forces to protect itself.
The Kishida government has already announced a series of measures to combat the problem of Japan’s declining birth rate, including child allowances, improvements to childcare provisions, and changes in working styles. Nevertheless, according to Mori, the prospect of redressing the problem is quite difficult.