This is an excerpt from the FT mentioned in my previous. Startling demographics, especially Singapore.
Youngsters, especially the so-called “parasite singles” who live rent-free with their parents, are in no rush to get married or to have children. Although it has risen slightly in recent years, Japan’s fertility rate has fallen to 1.4, well below 2, which is the rate needed to maintain a population. That is higher than South Korea’s 1.23 or Singapore’s 0.78, though – unlike Japan – Singapore supplements its dwindling native population with a steady inflow of immigrants. The UK, at 1.91, is close to being able to maintain its population without immigration, while the US, at 2.06, could just about do so unaided. For Japan pessimists, the low birth rate does not stem from the inevitable decline of fertility rates in affluent, urban societies, but is a sign that Japanese youth is feeling too poor and too pessimistic to reproduce.
