Japan PM says country on the brink over falling birth rate Japan's prime minister says his country is on the brink of not being able to function as a society because of its falling birth rate. Fumio Kishida said it was a case of "now or never." Japan - population 125 million - is estimated to have had fewer than 800,000 births last year. In the 1970s, that figure was more than two million. Birth rates are slowing in many countries, including Japan's neighbours.But the issue is particularly acute in Japan as life...