Japan birth rate falls to lowest on record

Japan birth rate falls to lowest on record

New data shows that the speed of depopulation in Japan is in-creasing. The country’s fertility rate and number of new births fell to a record low in 2023. Chris Gilbert reports from Tokyo:

June 6, 2024 26

Lifestyle

South Africa’s ageing population comes with new challenges. How best to adapt to them

By Lauren Johnston, University of Sydney Young people – under the age of 15 – currently make up 29% of South Africa’s population. But this will soon change: the aged portion of the population is forecast to rise from 2030, bringing many challenges. Lauren Johnston, an economics and political economy expert, recently published a paper on the subject. We asked her to put the developments into perspective. What is […]

January 22, 2024 23

Business / Economics

China’s population shrinks again and could more than halve – here’s what that means

By Xiujian Peng, Victoria University China’s population has shrunk for the second year in a row. The National Bureau of Statistics reports just 9.02 million births in 2023 – only half as many as in 2017. Set alongside China’s 11.1 million deaths in 2023, up 500,000 on 2022, it means China’s population shrank 2.08 million in 2023 after falling 850,000 in 2022. That’s a loss of about 3 […]

January 19, 2024 18

World

China’s population shrinks for a second year in a row

China's population fell in 2023 for the second year in a row – down by two million, as births and deaths continue to drop. The overall population fell in 2023 to 1.409 billion, down 2.08 million people from the previous year. Although the economy grew last year slightly faster than the government's target. Here's Andrew Wood in Hong Kong.

January 17, 2024 12