Posted on 12/14/2010 4:25:32 PM PST by wagglebee
December 12, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The socially liberal Economist magazine is admitting that the Japanese economy is in deep trouble due to low fertility rates and an aging population, which threaten to bankrupt the social security system and lead to perpetual economic stagnation.
In a special section devoted to Japan appearing in the November 20-27 edition, the Economist laments that “Japan is heading into a demographic vortex. It is the fastest-aging society on Earth and the first big country in history to have started shrinking rapidly from natural causes.”
However, the causes that the Economist calls “natural” include artificial birth control and abortion, coupled with a tendency to marry later or not at all. As a result of falling birth rates and longer life expectancy, Japan’s “median age (44) and life expectancy (83) are among the highest and its birth rate (1.4 per woman) is among the lowest anywhere. In the next 40 years its population, currently 127m, is expected to fall by 38m. By 2050 four out of ten Japanese will be over 65.”
Japan’s working-age population has already been falling for years, the Economist says. “In 1995, just before the economy started to lose steam, the working age population hit its high point, at 87m. Since then it has fallen sharply. If current trends continue, in 20 years time it will have dropped by 20m, according to the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research. By 2050 it will have fallen below 50m, forming an almost perfect bell curve in one century. Among rich nations, only Germany will suffer a similar fall.”
The Japanese economy has been stagnating for a decade and a half, but if these demographic trends continue, “the two ‘lost decades’ of economic stagnation in Japan since 1990 may turn out not to be an aberration,” the Economist writes. The economy, it says, is now on “the down escalator.”
The effects of Japan’s imploding population are not only felt in per-capita productivity, but also the social security system, which is threatened by a growing imbalance between workers and retirees.
“When public pensions were introduced in the 1960s there were 11 workers for every pensioner,” says the Economist. “Now there are 2.6, with an OECD average of four. In a sign of growing disillusionment with the pension system, almost 40% of the self-employed fail to pay contributions.”
The foundations for Japan’s embrace of contraception and abortion was laid by Margaret Sanger, the founder of the international birth control movement, and the Japanese socialist Shidzue Kato. The two began to promote contraception in Japan in the 1920s, although such policies were recognized at the time as a threat to Japanese society and rejected.
Following the conquest of Japan by the United States, Kato and other socialists were elected to the Japanese Diet, and the government passed the 1948 Eugenic Protection Law, which permitted contraception and abortion. The abortion rate is currently estimated to be approximately 250,000 per year.
Following the conquest of Japan by the United States, Kato and other socialists were elected to the Japanese Diet, and the government passed the 1948 Eugenic Protection Law, which permitted contraception and abortion. The abortion rate is currently estimated to be approximately 250,000 per year.
This is EXACTLY what is happening in the United States, we are just a generation behind.
secular suicide.
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Or is it that the real estate bubble and following deflation making credit unavailable especially to the young, keeping them in their parents houses has inhibited the formation of new households?
I’d offer to help...
When our population hits the top of the bell curve its gonna be one heckuva ride down the other side!
I worked with Japanese people at Japanese company for 12 years. Japanese kids are the cutest kids in the world and well behaved. It is a shame that they don’t have more of them.
The Japanese are alive and well and procreating all over Vancouver, BC. Last I checked.
This article sounds like a back-door attempt to force Japan to allow mass immigration and illegal immigration
Coming from the Liberal Economist magazine....no doubt this is the objective
Japan is one of the most homogenous (one main ethnic group) nationa on the planet. Their economic problems stem from crooked politicians and businesses who robbed the Japanese economy during its heyday.
The only way an economy rebounds is to attract investment....not increase the number of workers. Japan could add 30-40 million more people....but...if there is no capital to fund job creation...increase population is moot.
Japan still has not recovered from its economic collapse in the early 90’s. However, if they use the Globalist mantra of Free Trade/Open Borders....their economy will never recover. We know now Free Trade/Open Borders has failed for Europe and the USA. Japan has already shipped many of its manufacturing jobs out of the country...and they still are stagnant
In reality the old classes and castes that reflect the underlying ethnicities, are still known although without any legal recognition.
They're about 140 years ahead of us in that regard ~ if we were to start today.
Apparently it doesn't really improve quality of life.
This is horrible. I need to send this to a Japanese (Christian) colleague and friend; maybe his recently-married son and DIL can help reverse this. I look at some of our younger Anglican families and while I know they aren't practicing abortion, contraception seems to not be in the picture either.
And what an irony that but for WWII (and Pearl Harbor) things might be different.
Warnings about this problem in Japan were made 20 years ago.
Where is Paul Ehrilch when you need him? (sar)
This is the result of following his policies.
I don’t like hearing this as well. I have tremendous respect for the Japanese, their work ethic, and their culture based upon honor and respect for traditions.
Yes, 60 years ago we fought a devastatingly bloody and vicious war with them. They killed a lot of us and we killed a lot of them. I understand. But, since they have been a stalwart and trusted ally in the international fight against Communism. With the rise of China in Asia they are our and the West’s Number 1 vanguard yet extremely vulnerable at the same time. Thus, their weakness is our weakness.
Toyota, JVC, Canon, et al, are as much a part of American life and culture today as Plymouth, RCA, and Kodak were a half-century ago. We’re linked in ways that few nations are today.
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