There are many headwinds to deflation-monster-fighting Abe's plans to bring Japan back from the ledge but perhaps the biggest one is the demographic disaster. As Japan News reports [4], the decline in Japan's population set another record in 2012 with the number of deaths exceeding births for the sixth year in a row. Records were broken everywhere. The number of babies born in the nation in 2012 fell by 13,705 from the previous year to hit a new low of 1,037,101 and while a total fertility rate of 2.0 children per woman will maintain the population at a stable level. Japan’s rate has continued to fall since dropping below 2.0 in 1975. Meanwhile, the number of deaths in 2012 hit a record high of 1,256,254, increasing by 3,188 from the previous year. The greying of Japan continues and worse still, the young, for many reasons, are not having children as the number of women in their 20s who had a child in 2012 decreased by 16,200. Will the fourth arrow of Abenomics be a state-sponsored unprotected sex-a-thon?
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A total fertility rate of 2.0 children per woman will maintain the population at a stable level.
Japan’s rate has continued to fall since dropping below 2.0 in 1975. It slumped to an all-time low of 1.26 in 2005.
Despite the increase in the fertility rate, however, the survey showed that the graying of the nation and the fall in population continues.
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The number of women in their 20s who had a child in 2012 decreased by 16,200 from the previous year, while the number of births among women aged from 35 to 39 and from 40 to 44 increased by a combined total of about 8,700.
Source: The Japan News [4] [4]