According to the study, in the next few decades, Japan and South Korea will lose 50% of their population. Their population will drop by up to 50%. So, what’s behind the South Korea and Japan’s population decline?
Economy Impact
This demographic crisis will have a dark impact on their economy. The reason is simple: when a nation loses 50% of its population, their economic turnover will also collapse at a relatively similar rate. Their market share will drop 50%. And their economic output will also experience a significant fall. Who else will produce and buy their products when 50% of the population is gone?
Currently, such a dark demographic crisis has slowly undermined the strength of the Japanese economy. Grind slowly but the impact is very crucial. For example: in the suburbs of Japan, now many villages and sub-districts are transformed into ghost villages. Because literally, all of the population is extinct. There are thousands of houses left empty, because the occupants died and there was no longer a successor generation. Dead cities like this will slowly ambush various cities in Japan and Korea.
Kindergartens and Elementary School Are Closing Down
More and more kindergartens and elementary schools are closing because there are no more students registering. Because there are no more new babies born. There is no next generation who every year flocks to register for kindergarten. The supply of her new baby had disappeared.
The cause of this brutal demographic crisis is very simple. The reason is: more and more young people in Japan and Korea are reluctant to get married and have children. There are many of them choose to be single forever. Meanwhile, those who choose to get married, decide not to have children forever (childless family).
The result is fatal: no more new babies were born. And this is a disaster: because the parents who died, no longer have a successor generation. They do not have children and grandchildren who can continue civilization.
In Japan, for example, last year there were 1.4 million people who died (mostly yes because they were old and died naturally). Well, when young families in Japan are reluctant to have children, the number of deaths of 1.4 million is no longer a substitute. In other words, every year the Japanese population will decrease significantly every year.
Demographic Crisis
Such a phenomenon also occurs in Korea and China (China’s population will also drop 50% in the next few decades because many young people there are reluctant to have children now).
These three giant countries, Japan, China and Korea, experienced a demographic crisis with fatal consequences. Every year, the number of babies born in the three countries is always far below the number of elderly people who die.
Reasons of Low Birth Rate
The question is: why are more and more young people in Japan, Korea and China reluctant to have children? The answer is simple: because having children is complicated and very expensive. Many young families in Japan, Korea and China can’t afford to buy a house.
On the other hand, the cost of living to raise children, and finance children’s education funds, in the three countries is also increasingly expensive. While the income of many young people there is also mediocre. They are worried that they will not have enough funds to support their children’s life and education.
Government Solution
The governments of Japan, Korea and China themselves began to fear the demographic crisis that kept this time bomb. They are aware that without any improvement, the economic condition of their nation will collapse. Because 50% of the population will be irreplaceable.
There are three possible solutions that may be feasible by the governments:
1. Provide Low-Cost Housing
First: they must provide low-cost housing to young, newly married millennials. Don’t let private developers take possession of the land, and then set house prices too high. The governments of the three countries must aggressively build adequate flats, at affordable prices, so that young, newly married families will have more freedom to have adequate housing. The hope is that with this, the cost of living will be more affordable.
The policy is expected to encourage young people to be more willing to have children, because their government also subsidizes the cost of owning or renting a house (an important element for a young newly married family).
2. Subsidy The Child Care Service Cost
The second solution: provide quality child care services at low prices, or even for free.
Good child and baby care services, widely available, and at low cost or even free, will make young newly married families not have to worry about the burden of caring for their newborn baby. The hope is that this will encourage the young generation of Japan, Korea and China to have children.
3. Lift Up The Foreign Immigration Rules
The third solution: the three countries, especially Japan and Korea, should make it easier for foreign immigrants to come from various countries to work and become citizens of their country. So far, Japan and Korea have somewhat limited the presence of foreign workers.
It is better if the governments of Japan and South Korea begin to relax foreign immigration rules. Let thousands of foreign workers to find work and even settle down as Japanese or Korean citizens. Even the Japanese and Korean governments need to encourage the foreign workers to become their citizens and also marry local Japanese or Korean citizens.
These are the three concise solutions that the governments of Japan, Korea and China need to implement in overcoming the threat of the demographic crisis in front of their eyes.
