Japanese PM worried about country's population decline

The Japanese government says it is concerned about the Asian country’s declining population and shrinking agricultural land.

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While speaking at the 9th meeting of the Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD9), Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba raised concern about the country’s population decline, describing it as one of the biggest challenges.

PREMIUM TIMES reports that over the years, Japan’s population has been reducing, and it shows no sign of slowing down.

Last year, the country shrank by more than 900,000 people, the biggest annual drop on record, according to government data.

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Data released last week by Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications showed that the decline brought the country’s population to 120 million.

Farmland abandonment due to rural depopulation, ageing farmers, and a lack of successors has also led to a shrinking of agricultural land. Japan’s arable land dropped from 4.142 million hectares in 2018 to 4.086 million hectares in 2021.

This is unlike in Nigeria, where the population continues to rise, with the West African country expected to be the third most populous country in the world by 2050.

In his speech, the Japanese prime minister reportedly appealed to African countries to assist his country as it struggles to grapple with these challenges.

Details of Mr Ishiba’s speech were contained in a statement by the office of the Nigerian president, Bola Tinubu, who is also in Japan for the TICAD9 conference.

Mr Ishiba noted that the population of Japan would be reduced by half in the next 75 years.

READ ALSO: Nigeria’s population may surge to 450 million by 2050- Experts

“In local communities, the population continues to decline; this is one big challenge Japan is facing. All agricultural land is being reduced, another major challenge for Japan.

“This is a potential in Africa; there is a growing young population in Africa, but for the power of young people in Africa to flourish, you need to create a manufacturing industry and create employment, and that, I believe, is very important,” he said.

He noted that Africa’s economy is rooted in primary industries such as agriculture and forestry and that the continent needs to move towards secondary manufacturing industries.

“There is a jump in economic growth that Japan and other Asian countries have experienced and they have tried to move from the primary, the agriculture, fisheries, forestry to the secondary, that is a necessary process because the power of the youth could be realised fully in the manufacturing industry to improve the productivity of Africa’s manufacturing sector,” the prime minister said.