With Declining Births in Japan… Local Company Stops Production of Baby Diapers
A Japanese diaper manufacturing company has decided to withdraw from the baby products market in Japan due to the collapse of the birth rate in the country, and instead will strengthen its activity in the adult hygiene products sector.
In Japan, “demand for baby diapers is declining due to several factors, including the decrease in the birth rate,” explained a spokesperson for the paper manufacturing company Oji Holdings to Agence France-Presse on Tuesday.
The company will cease diaper production in September next year, after production declined by over 40% compared to the peak reached in 2001, which now does not exceed 400 million units produced annually.
However, Oji Holdings will increase its production of adult diapers in Japan due to the growing demand for these products because of the increasing population aging rate.
Japan has the highest number of elderly people in the world after Monaco, and the number of births in the country reached a new historically low record in 2023 since the start of these statistics in 1899 (a 5.1% decline in population growth in one year). Deaths in the country last year exceeded births by two to one.
However, Oji Holdings will remain present in the baby diaper sector, but only abroad (Indonesia and Malaysia), where it plans to strengthen its production and local sales.
Last year, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida sounded the alarm about the country’s rapidly aging population.
The government’s plan primarily involves bolstering financial aid to families and improving access to daycare centers.
Many observers believe that the collapse in the birth rate in Japan is also due to strict conceptions of parenthood, work, and gender relations in Japanese society.
