Young Japanese Concerned About Future as Country Slips in GDP Ranking

The International Monetary Fund published its world economic outlook in October 2023, forecasting it highly likely that Japan’s nominal GDP on a US dollar basis will fall below Germany’s, putting it in fourth place globally. This drew a lot of pessimistic comments in Japan in newspapers and social media, as people remembered previously falling behind China and bemoaned the country’s financial straits.

The Nippon Foundation, which regularly conducts surveys to gauge the opinions of young people, asked respondents this time if they were aware that Japan’s nominal GDP was expected to fall to fourth place, finding that, at 26.4%, roughly one in four knew. More than double the percentage of young men knew as young women, at 34.8%, compared with 17.5%.

Given the drop to fourth place globally, respondents were asked if they were concerned about the future, to which 70.8% answered they were either “concerned” or “slightly concerned” about Japan’s future. When it came to their own future, 62.9% felt a similar kind of concern.

Nearly 70% of all respondents felt that Japan’s nominal GDP ranking “will fall” or was “more likely to fall” in the future. Young men proved more pessimistic, with the percentage answering the ranking “will fall” being 11.3 points higher than that for young women.

The survey, held online from December 1 to 4, 2023, targeted 1,000 young people aged between 17 and 19. The respondents were almost equally distributed by age group and gender ratio.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)