'Japan will disappear if…': Elon Musk sounds alert as Asian country's birth rate hits record low levels

livemint.com:

number of births, the number of marriages in Japan dipped 5.9% to 489,281 in 2023. As per news agency Reuters, this is the first time in 90 years that the number of marriages in a year dropped below 5,00,000. A spokesperson of the Japanese government said that the administration is ready to implement "unprecedented measures" to address the diminishing birth rate.

These initiatives include the expansion of childcare services and the encouragement of salary increases for younger employees. "The declining birthrate is in a critical situation," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters. "The next six years or so until 2030, when the number of young people will rapidly decline, will be the last chance to reverse the trend," Hayashi added.

Last year, the Japanese PM called it the "gravest crisis our country faces," as launched various government programs supporting child-bearing households. His advisor Masako Mori spoke on the scale of the problem and said the country’s birthrate is “not falling gradually, it’s heading straight down." “A nosedive means children being born now will be thrown into a society that becomes distorted, shrinks, and loses its ability to function," the advisor said. The survey in Japan shows that the younger population is in doubt about getting married owing to the bleak employment prospects in the country.