Japan's population had its sharpest decline ever in 2008 as deaths outnumbered births, the government said Thursday, posing a burgeoning economic threat to its growth prospects amid a global recession.
Faced with low birthrates and long life spans, Japan's shrinking population is aging more quickly than any other economic power.
Health ministry records estimated that Japan's population declined by 51,000 in 2008. The number of deaths in 2008 hit a record of 1.14 million _ the highest since the government began compiling the data in 1947 _ and the number of births totaled 1.09 million.
Japan's births always outnumbered deaths until 2005, when the …
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