In Japan, births in 2023 fell for the eighth consecutive yr.
Tokyo:
Japan’s plummeting start fee has led a diaper producer to cease making them for infants at house and as an alternative ramp up manufacturing for adults, the corporate mentioned Tuesday.
Oji Holdings will wrap up home output of toddler diapers in September, after manufacturing dropped from a 2001 peak of round 700 million yearly to 400 million in the present day.
“Demand for child diapers is lowering due to elements together with the falling start fee,” a spokesman informed AFP. They may proceed to be offered in Japan till shares run out.
The variety of births in Japan dropped to a brand new low in 2023, with greater than twice as many deaths as new infants.
The spokesman mentioned Oji Holdings will increase manufacturing of the sanitary gadgets for adults within the nation, anticipating their use primarily in services like nursing houses.
Japan has the world’s oldest inhabitants after Monaco, and the marketplace for grownup diapers is “anticipated to develop domestically,” the corporate mentioned in an announcement on Monday.
Oji Holdings, which additionally makes different paper merchandise, mentioned it might nonetheless “preserve and increase” child diaper manufacturing and gross sales abroad, together with in Indonesia and Malaysia, citing expectations of progress there.
In Japan, births in 2023 fell for the eighth consecutive yr to 758,631, a drop of 5.1 %, preliminary knowledge confirmed in February. The variety of deaths stood at 1,590,503.
The nation is going through rising labour shortages, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has vowed insurance policies together with monetary assist for households, simpler childcare entry and extra parental go away to try to increase the start fee.
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
