Local News

On May 8, a subcommittee of the Japan Policy Council, a group of business leaders and scholars, released a population forecast for 2040. The forecast declared that if migration to the three major urban areas of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya continues at its current pace, the population of women of childbearing age will fall below 50% in 896 municipalities across Japan. This equal to half of all the municipalities in the country, and 125 of them are located in Kyushu (of which 22 are in Fukuoka Prefecture). The Council recommended creating employment opportunities for young people in the major regional cities in order to stem the overconcentration of people in the metro Tokyo area. The national government has also declared that more childcare support services and efforts to improve working conditions for non-regular employees would be needed to raise the fertility rate from the current 1.41 children per women to its goal of 1.8. Source: Nishinippon Shimbun 5/9