Japan’s PM says society could collapse as birth rate hits record highs

Fumio Kishida made such a statement at the opening of the parliament session. The politician said that Japan is on the verge of being unable to maintain basic social functions.

It’s all about a record drop in the birth rate: over the past year, less than 800 thousand people were born in Japan – for the first time in the history of the country. At the same time, 29% of the population are elderly people, and 11% are children.

For Japan, such statistics could mean a radical reduction in the labor force, which will also affect the overall social security system (in other words, there will simply be no one to look after the aging population). In this regard, Kishida promised by June to present a plan of “unprecedented countermeasures” that would stop the fall in the birth rate. These are economic support, childcare services and labor reforms. Kishida wants to allow everyone to participate in the upbringing of children – “regardless of age and gender.”