Research reveals that 744 Japanese municipalities are at risk of disappearing by the year 2050!

The Population Strategy Council revealed extremely alarming data about the decline of several Japanese municipalities by the year 2050. It is estimated that 744 municipalities are at risk of disappearing due to the reduction of women in their 20s to 30s in these municipalities, which which will lead to a sharp drop in the birth rate. Furthermore, even though the number of foreigners is expected to increase in Japan in the coming years, they do not contribute to the increase in the birth rate as they come to Japan in search of a better financial life. Thus, the risk announced in 2014 of just 152 municipalities disappearing in just 10 years increased sharply due to the estimated decline in the young female population. Another factor observed in the research is that around 25 municipalities located in large provinces such as Tokyo and Osaka, with a low birth rate, have become a type of “black holes” sucking the population flow from other smaller Japanese cities. Of all the regions in Japan, the one that shows the most worrying population decline is the Tohoku region, the location most affected by the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, which is a region with extensive rural areas and natural landscapes, covering prefectures such as Aomori, Iwate, Akita, Yamagata, Miyagi and Fukushima.