May 29, 2026
The fifth-largest economy in the world is facing a major population crunch. The decline — from 126.1 million to 123 million — is the biggest population drop over a five-year period since the government began collecting census data in 1920. The government has urgently tried to encourage citizens to have more children as a way of preventing a demographic crisis, but those efforts have so far failed, with birth rates even falling short of Tokyo’s modest expectations.
For more on the impending world’s population crisis and how governments can adapt to aging economies, watch this episode of GZERO World with President and CEO of the Population Reference Bureau Jennifer Sciubbahere.
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