In Japan, the number of births in 2023 fell for the eighth consecutive year.
Tokyo:
Japan’s plummeting birth rate has led a diaper maker to stop making diapers for babies and instead increase production of adult diapers, the company said on Tuesday.
Prince Holdings will end domestic production of baby diapers in September after output dropped from a peak of about 700 million units a year in 2001 to 400 million units currently.
“Demand for baby diapers is decreasing due to factors such as declining birth rates,” a spokesman told AFP. They will continue to be sold in Japan until stocks are sold out.
In 2023, the number of births in Japan dropped to a new low, with more than twice as many deaths as newborns.
The spokesperson said Prince Holdings will increase production of adult hygiene products in the country, which are expected to be mainly used in facilities such as nursing homes.
The adult diaper market in Japan, which has the world’s oldest population after Monaco, is “expected to grow domestically,” the company said in a statement on Monday.
Prince Holdings, which also makes other paper products, said it would “maintain and expand” production and sales of baby diapers overseas, including in Indonesia and Malaysia, citing expected growth there.
Preliminary data for February showed that the number of births in Japan in 2023 fell for the eighth consecutive year to 758,631, a decrease of 5.1%. The death toll is 1,590,503.
Japan is facing a growing labor shortage, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has vowed to adopt policies including financial aid for families, more accessible child care and more parental leave to try to boost the birth rate.
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