Signal Japan's population has been shrinking since 2010 and both countries face deep decline by 2050

Summary

Longer life expectancy can temporarily offset the effect of falling births, but eventually population growth slows and turns into decline. In Japan deaths have outnumbered births since 2005, and the total population including foreign residents began falling in 2010. Population decline in Korea began in 2020, fifteen years after Japan, but the total including foreigners has grown recently, so decline has not yet taken full hold. Projections put Japan's population at 104.68 million and Korea's at 42.34 million in 2050, each about 81.7 percent of its level just before decline began. Given Korea's current ultra-low fertility, the report expects its population to shrink much faster than Japan's after 2050.