Jiyo Japanese

What do the Japanese have in common with the Parsis? Not producing enough babies to replace their population. According to the United Nations, Japan is today one of 61 nations with a negative population growth, mentioned The Indian Express (IE) on January 4, 2015. It’s a double negative for that country — one of the lowest fertility rates in the world coupled with one of the highest longevity rates.

Japan’s health ministry has estimated that with 12,69,000 people dying in 2014 there has been a natural population decline of 2,68,000, IE reports. By 2020, adult diapers will "outsell the infant kind,” Forbes magazine has predicted. By 2060 the number of Japanese would decline from 127 million today to about 87 million.
Last year Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced the government’s version of Jiyo Parsi — a long term vision and strategy with the goal of raising the birth rate to 1.80 per family, from 1.43 at present, IE notes. He mapped out a strategy for Japan to be able to maintain its population at around 100 million up to 2060.
Another fallout of the decline is that many homes are lying vacant. In 2013 there were 8.2 million unoccupied homes in Japan, with government apprehensions that 20% of residential areas will become ghost towns by 2050.
Japan is not the only nation to face a severe population decline. According to IE, many others including Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal and Puerto Rica are in the same boat.