A Japanese diaper manufacturing company has decided to withdraw from the children's products market in Japan due to the collapse of the birth rate in the country. Instead, it will enhance its focus on health protection products for adults. In Japan, "demand for baby diapers is decreasing due to several factors, including the declining birth rate," explained a spokesperson for the paper manufacturing company Oji Holdings to AFP on Tuesday.
The company will stop producing diapers in September, after production has dropped by more than 40% compared to the peak it reached in 2001, now not exceeding 400 million units produced annually. Nevertheless, Oji Holdings will increase its production of adult diapers in Japan due to the rising demand for these products resulting from the increasing aging population.
Japan has the largest number of elderly people in the world after Monaco, and the number of births in the country reached a new record low in 2023 since these statistics began in 1899 (showing a 5.1% decline in population growth over one year). Last year, the number of deaths in the country exceeded the number of births by two to one.
However, Oji Holdings will still be present in the children's diaper sector but only abroad (in Indonesia and Malaysia), where it plans to enhance its local production and sales. Last year, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida sounded the alarm about the rapidly aging population in the country.
The government's plan primarily consists of boosting financial support for families and improving access to daycare centers. Many observers believe that the collapse in Japan's birth rate is also due to the rigid concepts of parenthood, work, and gender relations in Japanese society.
