Slowing population growth and an aging population are creating more than a headache for the island nation, as this problem is shrinking its pool of taxable citizens, causing the social welfare costs to skyrocket, and has led to Japan becoming the most indebted industrial nation with public debt that is double its economy. Incentives to have more children are also being announced, but as a whole, the country is just starting to feel the effects of a post-war baby boom, many of whom are now nearing the end of their years. The lack of good, well-paying jobs in the market is preventing men and their partners from starting families because they cannot afford to do so. One reason that the Japanese birth rate may be so low is the lack of good jobs for Japanese men, who are still expected to be the breadwinners and provide for their families. In 2018, there were less than 1 million babies born for the third year in a row and a fertility rate of only 1.45 births per woman. The nation’s birthrate is at its lowest since 1899, with fewer babies being born each year than the previous year. Japan’s population began to decline in 2011. Some blame the economy, stating that childcare is too expensive and there is a lack of stable, well-paying jobs that would allow men to provide for their families. Japan's efforts to increase its birth rate have been unsuccessful and the country's population is slowly declining. The fertility rate in Japan is 1.4 births per woman – far below the population replacement of 2.1. In 2019, only 864,000 babies were born in Japan – 54,000 less than the number from 2018. The main cause of Japan’s population decline is the rapidly decreasing number of births, which is currently at the lowest it has been since data started being collected in 1899. The population is expected to fall below 100 million by 2058. In 2009, the population was 128.56 million and is expected to be 126.48 million by the end of 2020. Japan’s population has been declining since 2009.

Population density map us 2018