Demography

3 September 2025
United Nations Population Fund Acting Executive Director Diene Keita poses for a portrait after an interview on Aug. 20 in Yokohama. (Photo by Yuki Kohara)
The number of immigrant workers in Japan's health care and welfare services has grown eightfold over a decade. (Photo by Akitoshi Sugiura)
Japan immigration

Foreign workers in Japan more than quadruple in labor-starved areas

Farming, fishing and construction increasingly rely on immigrant employment

15 August 2025
A caregiver who arrived from India in December 2024. She said she wants to establish her own facility to care for seniors in India in the future. (Photo by Mitsunori Narabu)
Japan immigration

Japan's immigration policy lags amid growth in foreign residents

Governors call for centralized authority as in Canada and Singapore

7 August 2025
Tokyo was the only area to see a rise in native Japanese population.
Demography

Japanese population down record 900,000, 16th straight year of decline

Foreign residents continue to rise, reaching more than 3.6 million

6 August 2025
Women in Shanghai hold plastic dolls while receiving training in infant care. Many Chinese couples employ live-in caregivers for about a month after the mother gives birth.
Society

China's new parents lean on postpartum carers despite $2,000 price tag

Live-in helpers take care of childcare, cooking and housework while women recover

3 August 2025
Children play inside a shopping complex in Shanghai in June 2021. The government says it aims to reduce the cost of having kids.
Demography

China unveils $500 annual child subsidy to help buoy birth rate

Modest payments for children under 3 may signal shift to direct handouts

28 July 2025
A Sentinel tribesman aims his bow at an Indian Coast Guard helicopter as it flies over North Sentinel Island in December 2004.
Politics

Isolated Sentinel tribe in focus as India readies census

First woman anthropologist to contact group says 'not possible' to reach out

21 July 2025
Seniors socialize in Vietnamese, Korean and other languages at a gathering organized by the Kobe Foreigners Friendship Center. (Photo by Utako Kawakami)
Society

Japan care facilities struggle as foreign population ages

Weak government support leaves civic groups scrambling to help vulnerable seniors

19 July 2025
In Japan, high construction costs driven by labor shortages are eating into developers' margins. (Photo by Sae Kamae)
Property

Labor shortages crimp Japan's booming property industry

Hong Kong-based ESR's chief says Japan's warehouse industry has 'runway for growth'

30 June 2025
Schoolchildren wash their plates before having their free mid-day meal at a village in the Indian state of Bihar. India has the world's biggest population but data in a U.N. report shows signs of a possible future decline.
Demography

India, world's most populous country, sees sign of future shrinking

Average woman now has 1.9 children, below replacement level of 2.1

17 June 2025
JCER, a Japanese think tank, forecasts China's economy will be 89% as large as that of the U.S. by 2057, but the gap will widen thereafter due to a falling population. (Source photos by AP)
Artificial intelligence

AI robots will narrow China's GDP gap with the US, says think tank

JCER expects trend to flip after 2057 as populations decline at different rates

13 June 2025
Gou Lili celebrated her daughter's first birthday at a restaurant in Jinzhou, China, last year: She says that while she never intended to get married, her parents had hoped for a grandchild. (Photo by Chen Sha) 
Policy Asia

China's single moms win more acceptance as birth rate worries mount

Official insistence on marriage before motherhood begins to fade

13 June 2025
Children at a holiday celebration in Hanoi, Vietnam. The Vietnamese government is trying to ease child-rearing burdens by lowering education costs.
Demography

Vietnam scraps two-child policy as Southeast Asia births drop

Economic growth may sputter as 'demographic dividend' disappears

7 June 2025
The South Korean version of the Pairs screen. The dating app's operator sees demand for finding serious relationships. (Pairs)
Technology

Japan dating app Pairs takes plunge on low-fertility South Korea

Operator adds custom questions to help users find matches with similar values

6 June 2025
The number of newborns in Japan fell below 700,000 in 2024 -- a first since records began in 1899. (Photo by Yuki Kohara)
Demography

Japan's number of births hits new low, falling by 5.7% in 2024

Fertility rate still dropping despite more marriages, straining the economy

4 June 2025
About a quarter of workers at Japanese building maintenance company Seisei Server are aged 70 or older. (Photo by Motokazu Matsui)
Society

Fast-aging Japan rethinks work at 70 and beyond

Looser retirement policies swell elderly workforce to over 5m amid labor shortage

19 May 2025
People visit an observation area in the Margalla Hills National Park on April 12. The giant park, a symbol of Islamabad's green heritage, has become a key battleground for environmental campaigners. (Photo by Sohail Shahzad)
Big in Asia

Islamabad's green vistas turn gray as population boom brings concrete wave

As Earth Day approaches, pollution, heat waves are on the rise in Pakistan's capital

19 April 2025
Yili's infant formulas at a store in Dalian. Competition is heating up in China's declining baby market. (Photo by Kohei Fujimura)
Consumer

Chinese baby formula giant Yili aims to attract parents-to-be with cash

$220 handout to couples spurs race for customer loyalty with rival Feihe

15 April 2025
Japan's shrinking labor force will hobble economic growth in the coming decades, according to a forecast by the Japan Center for Economic Research. (Photo by Yuji Murakami)
Economy

Japan forecast to drop to 45th place by key wealth measure in 2075

Country needs AI, freer job market to sustain its economy, JCER report says

28 March 2025
Yutaka Ofuku, left, who heads a machine parts maker in Osaka, oversees the work of his chosen successor, Vietnamese factory manager Bui Quoc Viet. (Photo by Arisa Moriyama)
Japan immigration

Japan's growing foreign workforce offers succession lifeline

Immigrants may make up 10% of population by 2040s, forecast shows

26 March 2025
Kindergarten can cost a Chinese family of three as much as 30% of their household income.
Education

China, one of the most expensive places to raise a child, eyes free preschool

Beijing hopes to lighten load on household budgets, encourage bigger families

25 March 2025
Residents stand in a boat as they arrive from flooded areas following rains and floods during the monsoon season in Sehwan, Pakistan, on Sept. 15, 2022
20 March 2025
Lu Wenli examines a 10-year-old boy at Shanghai Ruijin Hospital: The doctor's department treats 400 to 500 children a week for height-related issues at peak periods. (Photo by Wen Xia)
Big in Asia

Chinese kids are taller than ever but families are reaching higher

Heightened competition for spouses and jobs spurs pursuit of growth hormones

1 March 2025
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Podcast: News Roundup

Grandma-led child care struggles in Mongolia

Tune in to Nikkei Asia's podcast, bringing the region's key news to global listeners

28 February 2025
The Seoul city government hopes foreign workers can be an alternative solution to future manpower shortages in the care sector.
Immigration

South Korea extends Philippine nannies program to provide cheaper childcare

Seoul aims to ease household burdens, though critics say program is not a lasting solution

17 February 2025
Munkhtsetseg Sanjaasuren helps her grandson Sod-Undrakh with his homework: Grandmothers in Mongolia, as in other East Asian nations, have been playing a key role in looking after children to free up their mothers for work outside the home. (Photo by Anand Tumurtogoo)
Big in Asia

Child care by grandma: Asian model under strain in Mongolia

To keep up with GDP growth, country needs more women in the workforce

15 February 2025
A Tokyo man was rejected multiple times as a prospective tenant despite having ample savings. (Photo by Mayumi Tsumita)
Society

Renting in Japan is hard for seniors. Money isn't the only reason

Landlords are reluctant to take in elderly tenants with no next of kin to contact

3 January 2025
Students walk out of the campus of Chongqing No. 29 Middle School, one of the local venues for the national college entrance exam in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality in June 2024. 
Opinion

An aging Asia must act now to prevent a pensions crisis

Saving and investing can ensure that retirement will be a reality for all

3 December 2024
Two-time Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, pictured in his office on Nov. 5, says society must accept that people are not ready to be pensioned off at 60 in the modern era. (Photo by Yuki Kohara)
Big in Asia

Malaysia's Mahathir, 99, says Asia can lead in 'superaging' world

Centenarian leaders will emerge, former PM predicts in interview

23 November 2024
Korea Aerospace Industries talked about its "AI pilot" concept at the Korea Army International Defense Industry Exhibition in October. (Photo by Ahn Seong-bok)
Defense

South Korea pushes AI to bolster military as population shrinks

Hanwha Ocean and KAI pitch unmanned vehicle tech amid North Korea threat

5 November 2024