May 4, 2004
SOONER OR LATER IT BECOMES A TREND:
Number of Japanese children falls for 23rd straight year (The Japan Times, May 5, 2004)
Japan had an estimated 17.81 million children younger than 15 as of April 1, down 200,000 from a year earlier for the 23rd consecutive year of decline, the government said Tuesday.Kids younger than 15 comprise a record-low 13.9 percent of the population, according to the Public Management, Home Affairs, Post and Telecommunications Ministry. The number was down 0.2 percentage point from a year earlier for the 30th straight year of decline. Boys totaled 9.13 million and girls 8.68 million.
Folks who don't comprehend demographics protest that the raw number of Japanese has gone up, as if a 70 year old and a seven year were interchangeable. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 4, 2004 8:51 PM
It probably won't be long before the 7-year olds are working to support the 70-year olds, and not just in Japan.
Posted by: jim hamlen at May 5, 2004 9:37 AMThey'll be able to do that if productivity goes up fast enough.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at May 5, 2004 11:37 PMNo society with such demographic problems is having rapid productivity gains.
Posted by: oj at May 5, 2004 11:57 PMAnd no society with declining fecundity has ever carried that on to zero.
So?
Posted by: Harry Eagar at May 6, 2004 2:09 AMZero isn't the issue. The question is whether the culture can survive and at what level. There are still Frenchmen, but it is a fourth rate country.
Posted by: oj at May 6, 2004 7:54 AM