An article last week in the UK's Independent newspaper caught SCDigest's eye, the main thrust of which was that young people in Japan are increasingly just giving up on dating.
The article cited a Japanese government survey that found that 69% of single Japanese men and 59% of Japanese women do not have a romantic partner.
But that somewhat interesting factoid led to references to the consequences of this and other demographic trends: Japan now has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, with just 8.4 children being born per 1,000 inhabitants over the last five years. That compares to a rate of about 12.5 in the US, where the rate has also been heading lower.
The natural result: Japan's population has started to shrink, as can be seen in the chart below, which the main Independent article linked to:
This chart somewhat exaggerates the scenario, based on the axis scale, but a shrinking population in general is not good. But it is going to get worse.
Futoshi Ishii, director of population dynamics at the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research in Japan, says that Japan's population decline will break a new record for decline every year from now until the 2060s.
The countr's population in 2060: just 87 million, dramatically down from 127 million currently.
While the situation in Japan is especially acute, there are falling population issues all over the world, in fact almost everywhere but Africa. This demographic tsunami will have profound impact on supply chains - and society.
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