Japan's population starts declining in 2005 for 1st time
Friday, December 23, 2005 at 08:06 EST
TOKYO — Japan's population has started shrinking for the first time this year, government data showed Thursday, presenting the government with pressing challenges on the social and economic front including ensuring provision of social security services and securing the labor force.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's annual survey shows the balance of domestic births of Japanese minus deaths in the year is estimated to be minus 10,000, marking the first "natural decline" since the data were first compiled in 1989. Japan will join Germany and Italy in the ranks of countries where a decline in population has already set in.