THERE'LL BE PLENTY OF ROOM INSIDE THE CUBE:

Japan's population may shrink faster than expected (Reuters, 8/23/05)

Deaths exceeded births in Japan by 31,034 in the first half of the year, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday, raising the possibility that the population will start to shrink in 2005, two years earlier than previously forecast.

Japan's falling birth rate and ageing population have fuelled concerns about future growth in the world's second-largest economy, and experts have previously said the population was likely to start shrinking in 2007. [...]

The ageing population has raised concerns about the sustainability of Japan's pension system, which the government is trying to reform by cutting benefits and raising the contribution rate for individuals.

Japan's fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime -- hit a postwar low of 1.288 in 2004. Demographers generally consider a level of 2.1 as the "replacement rate" needed to keep a population from declining.

Their population actually declined last year, though it's something of a technicality--they count students studying overseas and folks working abroad in the decrease.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 23, 2005 3:42 PM