SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Japan suffers biggest natural population decline ever in 2018
Japan suffered its biggest natural population decline ever this year, government statistics show.
The fast-graying nation also posted a record-low birthrate, as the estimated number of babies born in 2018 dipped to 921,000 -- the lowest since records began in 1899 -- according to a report published Friday by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. The number of newborns is estimated to have shrunk by 25,000 from 2017, and the figure remains under the 1 million mark for the third year running.
Deaths in 2018 also hit a postwar record high of 1.369 million, with a natural population decline of 448,000 -- the highest ever.
Beijing eyes two-child policy U-turn, but 'lonely generation' has moved on
For nearly 40 years, the Chinese government harshly restricted childbearing through the one-child rule in order to control population growth. That may soon change. Beijing appears to be on the cusp of abolishing all of its family planning rules — and is even encouraging young couples to have more children as a matter of patriotic urgency.
But attitudes toward parenthood have changed. Even though there is a two-child policy in place now, many Chinese still don't want to have more than one child — or any at all. "I think having one child is enough," said Chen Yiwen, a 25-year-old accountant and newlywed. "I won't be tempted to have more — even if the family planning policy is abolished." [...] "Besides, we already have two little babies — a poodle and a corgi," she said.
Related (JP): Japan Has Aged Out of its Economic Miracle
Toyota's $392 Robot Baby for Japanese People Without Companions
Gatebox: Your New Holographic AI Assistant "Waifu"
Japan's Fertility Crisis is Creating Economic and Social Woes Never Seen Before
Japan Has 1.48 Jobs for Every Applicant
Why a Generation in Japan Is Facing a Lonely Death
Related (CN): China's 'Missing Girls' Theory Likely Far Overblown, Study Shows
China "Three-Child Policy" Hinted by Stamp Design?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday December 25 2018, @06:30AM (2 children)
And where would this economy happen to be? I'll note for the peanut gallery that most of the world doesn't have a problem with mass unemployment. It's only places that have thrown a variety of hurdles in the way of employing people. These places also tend to inflate the cost of living as well. They'll be object lessons for the rest of us, should we choose to pay attention.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 28 2018, @01:28AM (1 child)
To answer your question: In the United States, where minimum wage laws prevent employers from hiring labor that is worth less than a machine. This problem comes up in diverse populations, where wealth jealousy is a bigger concern than wealth production. The minimum wage was created to prevent blacks from competing with expensive white union labor. This is the hurdle that you speak of. Except now, the minimum wage rhetoric claims that it works opposite of how it was originally intended. In other words, it claims to help the poor. Its real function is to keep the Democratic plantation going. Guarantee votes from the exploited people so that the people doing the exploiting keep power. Rhetoric is powerful.
Here are a couple of object lessons. Notice that when Hillary calls blacks superpredators and say that blacks "all look the same," the media turns a blind eye. They also try to smear the party that prefers to leave the issue of race out of the law as being racist. When you have a "majority rules" party pretending to support the interests of minorities, then you have an obvious contradiction that warrants investigation. "Mob rules" does not look out for the interests of minorities. It does however, concentrate power in fewer people, as compared to a constitutional republic, which is what the United States is supposed to be. Take a lesson from history: Socialism/communism is always a bait and switch scam. You are no wiser than the gullible people who died in gulags. Probably less wise, because they did not have an information age to warn them, unlike you. Pay attention, and you just might not suffer and die like them.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday December 31 2018, @08:37AM
What would be the point? We already know that there's hypocrisy going on. But hypocrisy is quite legal.
As to the ethnic stuff, Japan has similar problems without having a similar ethnic group. It's a red herring.
I glanced at my post and I just don't see where this warning came from. It's not really an ideology problem, but rather a problem of using inappropriate tools in awful ways. People aren't living as well as we would like (or sometimes more accurately, they just want more money), so we'll mandate that employers should pay more and mandate a whole bunch of other stuff as well that reduces the value of the labor that the employers are paying for, which cumulatively has the opposite effect to what we wanted in the first place.
I guess the car analogy would that we want to drive from point A to point B. So clearly, the best way to do that is to drive in a straight line from point A to point B. Things like trees, rivers, chasms, etc. are irrelevant to the goal. We want to get there, so just get there. The more nuanced approach is to build a road between those two points. Due to intervening obstacles, it may be far from the straight line above, but at least you can get there. And you're not going to get there any faster, if you have someone throwing up road blocks.
That's the real problem here. We already have the means to get to point B, a better standard of living. But people aren't interested in preserving that.