Japanese population falling rapidly, number of births dips below 1 million

Japan's population excluding resident foreigners continued to fall at the fastest pace since the current survey started in 1968 and the number of births fell below 1 million, government data showed Wednesday.As of Jan. 1, the number of Japanese people dropped a record 308,084 from a year earlier to 125,583,658 for the eighth straight year of decline, despite the country's ongoing efforts to tackle rapid graying of the society, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said.It is the first time since 1968 that the population has dropped by more than 300,000.The number of births stood …READ FULL ARTICLE