The big picture: Japan's birthrate has hit a record low for the eighth consecutive year in 2023, with just 758,631 births recorded. Marriages also saw a historic low, with 489,281 unions, highlighting a deepening demographic crisis. Why it matters: Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi has declared the situation a critical demographic challenge.
The thing is: You need young people to support old people. This is irrespective of economic model; an upside down pyramid just isn’t a sustainable demographical situation. This could change as automation gets better, but for now both UBI and increasing birth rates are necessary. You can see this now in Japan needing foreign workers because there are more jobs that need to be done than people.
There are also some jobs that just can’t be automated, particularly around care for people (healthcare and education) and work that’s too unique to be automated (trades, in general, particularly around maintaining/upgrading existing homes and infrastructure).