Japan facing a demographic wall. There haven't been so few children since 1950

Japan's population of children under 15 has been shrinking for 45 years in a row, reaching a record low of 13.29 million in April; this is a decrease of 350 thousand. compared to last year – the “Japan Today” daily reported on Tuesday, citing government data. In Japan, Children's Day is celebrated on May 5.

Detailed data clearly show the deepening demographic crisis. The population aged 12 to 14 is 3.09 million, while in the youngest group, 0 to 2 years old, it is only 2.13 million, according to data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan published on Monday.

There is one among children 6.81 million boys and 6.48 million girls. The data also includes foreigners living in Japan.

The percentage of children in the country's total population shrank by 0.3 percentage points to 10.8%. This is the lowest result since comparable statistics began to be collected in 1950. About 122.5 million people currently live in Japan.

The phenomenon of shrinking child population in Japan has been going on since 1982. At its peak in 1954, the country had 29.89 million youngest citizens.

Authorities in Tokyo have identified measures to increase fertility as a priority and described the time until 2030 as “the last chance to reverse this trend.”

Currently, Japan ranks second to last in a UN study of 38 countries with a population of over 40 million in terms of the percentage of children. It is only ahead of South Korea, which has a rate of 10.2%. – reported the Kyodo agency.

Krzysztof Pawliszak (PAP)

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