Breaking News English

The number of children in Japan aged 14 and under is the [fewest / lowest] ever. Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications [realised / released] figures yesterday, [just / justly] before the country's Children's Day national holiday on May the 5th. The figures [show / shows] that the number of children in Japan fell [by / up] 160,000 from the previous year. It is the 33rd year in a [row / column] for the birth rate to decrease. There are 13 million [lesser / fewer] children in Japan today than there were in 1950. The Ministry said that out of 30 countries with a population [for / of] over 40 million, Japan has the smallest percentage of kids. Children make [out / up] 12.8 per cent of Japan’s population. In France, the [figure / figures] is 18.5 per cent and in the United States, it is 19.5 per cent.

While the number of children in Japan is going down, the number of old people is [increased / increasing] . The over-65s now make up a [record / recording] 25.6 per cent of the Japanese population. The government has warned that [these / them] trends will continue for [decadence / decades] to come. It said the proportion of people aged 65 or over could [reach / leach] nearly 40 per cent in 2060. This will make life in Japan almost [impossibility / impossible] for young, working people. They will have to pay much higher [taxes / taxis] to support the over-65s. The Japanese economy will also be in big / large] trouble because there will not be [enough / plenty] young people to work. Japan's government has tried many things to get people to have more babies, but nothing seems to be [works / working] .