Japan's demographic puzzle keeps getting tougher to solve. Birth rates? They've been on a relentless downward spiral for years—and things are only accelerating.

Check the numbers:
• 2018: roughly 919,000 births
• 2019: around 865,000
• 2020: 841,000
• 2021: 811,000
• 2022: 771,000
• 2023: 727,000

That's a staggering decline—nearly 200,000 fewer births in just five years. The trajectory tells you everything about structural economic shifts ahead. When developed economies face population contraction like this, it reshapes consumption patterns, labor markets, asset valuations—basically everything.

Worth watching closely if you're thinking about long-term macro trends and how they ripple through global financial markets.