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TOKYO (AP) - Japanese births rose for the first time in six years in 2006, according to government statistics announced Monday, offering a glimmer of hope for a rapidly aging society.
Japan's population of 127 million shrank in 2005 for the first time on record, mostly due to a steadily falling birth rate, raising the prospect of a severe labor shortage and difficulties in paying the health bills and pensions of large numbers of elderly.
But preliminary data for 2006 showed there were 1.086 million births in Japan last year, 23,000 more than the previous year, the Health Ministry said Monday.
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