Ghosting of Japan

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By 2040, about half of Japan’s municipalities, or 896 towns and cities, will be on a course to future extinction as their numbers of women of reproductive age drop below levels needed to sustain them, according Japan Policy Council projections.

More than 20 percent of residential areas in Japan will become ghost towns by 2050, Japan’s land ministry forecasts. And data from the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research show a 16 percent population decline country-wide within 25 years, with 20 percent of municipalities experiencing a drop below 5,000 people. The “compact city” solution is being considered as a model for survival by these areas facing depopulation.