Japan's population declines for 2nd year in a row

[kristopher]

Japan's population declines for 2nd year in a row

Japan's government says the nation's population has declined for a second straight year.

The internal affairs ministry said on Tuesday that the population as of the end of March was about 126-million-230-thousand. The figure was down 122-thousand from a year before, and excludes data for 22 municipalities in 3 northeastern prefectures that were hit hard by the March 11th disaster.

The ministry attributes the decline to a decrease in births for a 3rd consecutive year and a record-high number of deaths since 1968, when the government began keeping relevant records.

Thirty-nine of Japan's 47 prefectures saw population decreases.

Hokkaido recorded...

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/09_29.html

[bhikkhu]

1. I'm sure it leads to some difficult adjustments,

but I can't help thinking that they are, in the long term, solving many more problems by decreasing population than they are creating.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Most likely.