Japan’s birthrate is half what it was in 1950. Her population is projected to crest soon at 127 million, but fall to 104 million by 2050, when there will be fewer than half as many Japanese children as there were in 1950 but eight times as many seniors as in 1950. Her dynamism will be dead, her Asian role diminished, for there will be fifteen Chinese for every single Japanese. Even the Philippines, which had only a fourth of Japan’s population in 1950, will have 25 million more people by 2050. The reason for Japan’s baby bust? More than half of all Japanese women now remain single by thirty
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