Shrinking Population

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2 Jan 2010 - Japan's population shrank by a record margin last year as the nation rapidly ages, said the Welfare Ministry yesterday. The number of people fell by 123,000, the biggest drop since the records began in 1947. It is an illustration of the demographic crisis the country faces as a smaller working population has to support a mass of pensioners. It is the fourth consecutive year that the country's population has declined. The fall was larger than the 72,000 registered in 2009. The Ministry estimated 1,071,000 babies were born in Japan last year, almost flat from 2009, while deaths soared by 52,000 to a record of 1.194,000. It is interesting to note this trend in one of Asia's most developed nations, and similar trends are spotted in South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. It would probably also be the same in Europe but immigration changes the picture in the old world.