Has the Japanese government announced plans to reduce the population to 80 million? No, that's not true: The claim is misleading and lacks context. The statement stems from the Population Strategy Council's recommendation, which suggests that by the year 2100, the current Japanese population of 125 million could be reduced to 63 million, due to population decline. In light of this projection, the council proposes that the Japanese government take steps to increase this estimate, aiming at a future population of 80 million.
The claim appeared on a TikTok video (archived here) on January 10, 2024. Translated from Japanese to English by Lead Stories staff, the captions read:
Stabilized population at 80 million people
Aiming for a nation of 80 million people
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Jan 11 03:54:41 2024 UTC)
The comments on this post reflect a sense of confusion, likely stemming from the absence of clarification that the discussion pertains to the year 2100. With the current population of Japan recorded at approximately 125 million (archived here), a substantial decrease of almost 50 percent is expected by the end of the century, owing to the negative population growth rate. As translated from Japanese to English by Lead Stories staff, some comments express misunderstanding due to this oversight:
Does this mean 40 million will be executed?
Does this mean the government wants to have a country with citizens who don't want any children?
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Thu Jan11 04:10:55 2024 UTC)
Furthermore, this isn't a government initiative; rather, it involves experts who are part of the Population Strategy Council, focused on discussing measures to counteract population decline. The council, spearheaded by Akio Mimura, former president of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (archived here), and Chikako Igarashi, president of the Hokkaido Intellect Tank Association (archived here), has outlined its mission on the respective websites of the two institutions.
During a meeting with Prime Minister Kishida (archived here), the Population Strategy Council presented a proposal (archived here) to stabilize the population at 80 million people.
