Incredible Shrinking Japan

Demon demographer Joel Kotkin, arguably one of the most prolific authors on the planet, writes for New Geography an entirely readable column on the demographic disaster that is Japan. He reports it has "one of the lowest fertility rates on the planet." Some key insights about Japan:

Its working-age population will drop from 79 million today to less than 52 million in 2050.

By 2020, adult diapers are projected to outsell the infant kind. By 2040, the country will have more people over 80 than under 15, according to U.N. projections. By 2060, the number of Japanese is expected to fall from 127 million today to about 87 million, of whom almost 40% will be 65 or older.

By 2010, a third of Japanese women entering their 30s were single, as were roughly one in five of those entering their 40s. (snip) By 2030, according to sociologist Mika Toyota, almost one in three Japanese males may be unmarried by age 50.

Other key Asian countries appear to be following the demographic path it (Japan) is blazing, including including South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and China.

Under the social and economic systems of developed countries, the cost of a child outweighs the child’s usefulness.