Article: Japan's population falling faster than forecast.

TOKYO _ Japan's population is shrinking faster than expected, with the number of inhabitants set to decline in 2006 _ a year ahead of previous projections.

The forecast was contained in the fiscal 2005 white paper on the declining birthrate, which was approved at a Cabinet meeting Friday.

The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research announced in 2002 that the nation's population would begin decreasing in 2007. This is the first time the government has officially referred to the possibility of the population decline starting next year.

The report's reasons for the new estimate are:

_The fertility rate, or the ...

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