Since Japan began counting its newborns more than a century ago, more than a million infants have been added to its population each year.
打從日本從一個多世紀以前開始計算新生兒人數起，其人口每年增加100多萬名嬰兒。
No longer, in the latest discomforting milestone for a country facing a steep population decline. Last year, the number of births in Japan dropped below one million for the first time, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said on Friday.
然而，隨著面臨人口驟降的日本來到令人不安的最新里程碑，此情此景不再。日本厚生勞動省週五表示，日本去年新生兒出生人數首度低於100萬。
The shrinking of the country’s population － deaths have outpaced births for several years － is already affecting the economy in areas including the job and housing markets, consumer spending and long-term investment plans at businesses.
日本人口縮減—死亡率多年來超越出生率—已對包括就業、房市、消費支出與企業長期投資計畫等經濟領域造成影響。
After Japan’s population hit a peak of 128 million at the start of the current decade, it shrank by close to a million in the five years through 2015, according to census data. Demographers expect it to plunge by a third by 2060, to as few as 80 million people － a net loss of a million a year, on average.
人口普查數據顯示，在日本人口於最近10年之初達到1億2800萬的最高峰後，至2015年底的5年來已減少近100萬人。人口統計專家預計，日本人口在2060年前將驟減3分之1，也就是剩下8000萬人，平均每年淨減少100萬人。
Source article: http://iservice.ltn.com.tw/Service/english/english.php?engno=1118669&day=2017-07-14