qManawatu Evening Standard. THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 1936. JAPAN’S POPULATION PROBLEM.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 121, 23 April 1936, Page 8

qManawatu Evening Standard. THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 1936. JAPAN’S POPULATION PROBLEM.

It is believed that, sooner or later, the world must aid Japan in the solution of her population problems, not only for iiumanitarian reasons, but also to help solve the political and economic problems with which a harassed world is beset. The ' problem is a serious and pressing one for Japan, where the birth-rate is 33 per thousand. But the birthrate is decreasing and the increase in population during the decade 1920-1930 was caused more by a decline in the deathrate than by an increase in the number of children born. Men marry later than formerly, and the size of families' is smaller. But Japan’s urgent problem is to find work for the children already born.* Between 1920-30, the population of Japan increased by more than 8,000,000, according to reliable statistics, and remunerative occupation had to be found during this period for nearly 5,000,000 workers.- It is estimated that during the following twenty years there will be an inevitable further increase in the population of 10,000,000 people. In 1920 the population was 56,000,000, and the estimate now is about 70,000,000. In the former year 31,000,000 were described as working population, that is between the ages of 15 and 59, and it is estimated that the figures will have grown to 46,000,000 by 1950. The number of children of six to eleven years of age in the elementary schools was nearly 9,000,000 an 1930, and as 1,200,000 annually will be entei’ing the labour market, it is expected that, after allowance has been made for older people, half a million new jobs will have to be found each year in order to absorb the increasing population. The earnings of the larmers have become less, while the. agricultural population has remained the same, and this fact accounts largely for the great rural distress. In spite of the great growth in population, there were only 27,225,000 persons members of households, the heads of which were engaged in agriculture in 1930; against 26,764,000 in 1920, so it is evident that the whole of the iiacreased working population is being absorbed into occupations other than that of agriculture. There has naturally been a great growth in the population of urban districts. In the seven most important prefectures over half of the total increase of population v'as • absorbed, over 4>000,,000 more people living in these areas in 1930 than in 1920, in spite of the fact that the .natural increase of population is much greater in rural than in urban districts. What is Japan to do with the millions of new persons who will be seeking ciu-

ployment within the next decade ? Under present world conditions the possibilities of emigration are very remote. To feed and clothe her rapidly growing population Japan will, in the future, have to import increasing .quantities of raw materials, and either reduce her present exports of foodstuffs and' replace these with manufactured goods, or she w T ill have to import more food. How is she to pay for all this? Unless the rest of the world is willing to exchange its goods for hers or permit immigration, her only solution will be to 'expand the area from which she can draw raw materials and to which she can send her manufactured goods. This means an expansion of territory under her direct or indirect control.