Introduction: A Special Focus on Japan's Shrinking Regions
Social Science Japan Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 197-210, 2010
6 Pages Posted: 22 Dec 2011 Last revised: 6 Jan 2012
Date Written: December 1, 2010
Abstract
Japan is in the midst of a quiet, though profound, transformation. Some time between 2005 and 2010 the country's population began to shrink and - although history has an unerring, and unnerving, habit of delivering unexpected outcomes - based on current trends, the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research projects that the nation will continue to decline in size at a rate of approximately 800,000 people per year between 2010 and 2050 (National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (NIPSSR), 2006). This is equivalent to losing a city the size of Niigata - Japan's 15th largest - annually for the next 40 years. Alongside this, the country is getting progressively older, and ageing is expected to reduce the size of the labour force still further such that Japan's ratio of dependants to active workers will approach 1:1 by around 2030. These two interdependent processes therefore have the potential to deliver great changes to the country in the coming decades.
Keywords: depopulation, rural decline,Japan
JEL Classification: Z10, O10, O18, J11
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation