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Percentage of Elderly In Japan Continues to Grow as Number of Children Drops

First time accepted submitter Cornelie Roe (3627609) writes in with some bad news about the population of Japan. "The number of children in Japan has fallen to a new low, while the amount of people over 65 has reached a record high as the population ages and shrinks, the government said. There were an estimated 16.33 million children aged under 15 as of 1 April, down 160,000 from a year earlier, the internal affairs and communications ministry said on Sunday. It was the 33rd straight annual decline and the lowest level since records began in 1950. Children accounted for 12.8% of the population, the ministry said. By contrast, the ratio of people aged 65 or older was at a record high, making up 25.6% of the population. Jiji Press said that, of countries with a population of at least 40 million, Japan had the lowest ratio of children to the total population – compared with 19.5% for the United States and 16.4% for China. Last month, the government said the number of people in the world's third largest economy dropped by 0.17% to 127,298,000 as of 1 October 2013. This includes long-staying foreigners. The proportion of people aged 65 or over is forecast to reach nearly 40% in 2060, the government has warned."

2 of 283 comments (clear)

  1. Good For Them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Japan is a crowded, congested city as it is. The one thing they don't need more of is people. It's probably better for them in the long run to shrink.
    Meanwhile in the US, we take in all kind of illegal immigrants and refugees, it is turning into a shithole here. Japan has it good compared to us or other overcrowded cesspools like India, China or Bangladesh.

  2. It's obvious by epyT-R · · Score: 0, Troll

    Japan is one of the most feminized countries on the planet. Men there have been feminized to the point of absurdity such that the women there want little to do with them unless they're willing to put in inhuman hours at work to 'support' a family (ie top 10 percent).. Basically these guys are just opting out of the rat race because they've realized the costs to life, health and sanity outweigh what few benefits the women might offer, leaving the women to fight for the dwindling supply of 'alphas' at the top. The west should take note of this trend because while japan has some unique attributes to its culture, we have our own version of it now too. Today's feminism damns men for doing and damns them for not, so more and more of them are realizing it's cheaper, healthier and saner to be damned for nothing than to work at it.

    http://www.youtube.com/results...