While the number of Japanese people marked a profound decline recently, the number of foreign residents has increased to a record of nearly three million.
Such conclusions have been reached in the recent data provided by the government of Japan, VisaGuide.World reports.
The same source revealed that Japanese society is ageing across the country, suggesting that international citizens are therefore playing an even more important role.
The data from the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications reveals that the number of Japanese nationals decreased for the 14th year by nearly 800,000 people to 122.42 million.
According to the Ministry, for the first time, the number of residents in Japan decreased in all 47 prefectures.
It notes that the number of internationals living in this country was a record 2.00 million, thus accounting for a surge of 10.7 per cent from the figures of the previous year, thus accounting for the biggest yearly increase since the Ministry began collecting data a decade ago.
About 2.87 million foreign nationals were living in Japan as of January 1, 2020, before the spread of the Coronavirus and its new variants.
Based on the figures provided by the government of Japan, the population has decreased every year since reaching its peak in 2008 as a result of the low birth rate, thus reaching a record low last year.
The Government of Japan plans to address the problem by several means, also taking into account the idea of employing a larger number of women, according to the top government spokesperson.
“To secure a stable workforce, the government will promote labour market reforms to maximise the employment of women, the elderly and others,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno pointed out, according to the Economic Times India report.
In January this year, the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, warned about the country’s population crisis, stressing that it was on the brink of not being able to keep social functions as a result of the falling birth rate.
“In thinking of the sustainability and inclusiveness of our nation’s economy and society, we place child-rearing support as our most important policy,” Kishida noted.
Japan’s PM stressed that he wants the government to double its spending on child-related programs, adding that a new government agency would be set up in April in order to focus on the matter.
The Ministry of Health predicted that the country would register fewer than 800,000 births while the country has one of the lowest birth rates in the world.
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