Is this partly why countries need immigration ?

[ApriloNeil2026]

Countries such as Japan and South Korea illustrate the extreme case: extremely low fertility combined with minimal immigration leads to rapid population aging and long-term economic stagnation.

Yes, that is partly why countries need immigration.

Allowing entry to adults of working age is a totally rational thing to do.

As long as the immigrants are going to contribute to society and not drain it then yes

How do you feel about British citizens who are draining society rather than contributing to it? Eg self-employed builders who take insist on being paid in cash so they can avoid paying tax, or those who have the spare time to go around painting red crosses on mini roundabouts because they're on universal credit?

Japan, that failure what with being the 4th highest GDP in the world?

Where do you people get this utter garbage from?

yes, a rich country but growth is stagnant and the population is falling and aging. It’s very difficult to grow an economy with fewer people of working age.

in the modern day theres only so many companies that can exist and make profits, so then whats left for the rest of the population ?

Thing is mass immigration has disastrous social consequences. I'd rather see Japan and South Korea remain Japanese and Korean.

Their crimes are mere pinpricks compared to the wholesale amputations being committed by the megacorps who pay little to no tax.

I mean you'd need a fuck of a lot of builders dodging a lot of tax to match what Amazon should be paying. Let alone Google, Apple, Meta, Microsoft. And they are all pricing up a job the other side of town but will call in tomorrow.

If the population is not growing, why does the economy need to grow? Is there not a sustainable, middle of the road model between communist and capitalist?

Good point and not something I can answer in a lot of detail. Little or no growth might still matter because the structure of the population is changing - so an ever increasing proportion of elderly retired people and an ever decreasing proportion of working people. Elderly people cost the country a lot of money in pensions, social services and healthcare and don’t often contribute to the ecomomy.

So then, the government has to increase taxes or borrowing.

With a shrinking workforce, employers may be struggling to recruit, thus shrinking tbe economy further.

So, an inbalance in working age people versus non-working people is a problem. One possible solution is immigration because that can improve the balance.

That isn’t the topic here. Is it. Sick of whatsboutery.

They are citizens, and arseholes as well.
No need to import any more though, is there?

UK growth is stagnant and we've had record immigration over the past 5 years. I'm not anti immigration but the UK evidence shows it doesn't help grow the economy.

Immigrants get old and need care and pensions eventually too.
Immigrant community birth rates also fall in line with the native population after a couple of generations.
Mass immigration is not a long term solution to the problem developed countries are facing.
The problem is exacerbated by importing low skilled workers who are not net contributors to the economy.
Thats without getting into the cultural time bomb we are lighting the fuse on.

@GasperyJacquesRoberts "How do you feel about British citizens who are draining society rather than contributing to it?"

And how do you feel about the mega corporations, the billionaires and the Royal Family who dodge tax on an astronomically immoral scale? But to answer your original question, is your answer really to import more small scale tax dodgers and benefit claimants from all over the world?

So?

Japan seems fine without your intervention.

First we have to identify if there is a problem facing 'developed' countries in the first place and what that problem actually is.

Seems odd to call for more young adults when I read recently we have 700,000 graduates looking for work.
Keep importing more migrants who will do the jobs for low money until they get access to citizenship and better options then import some more?
I would rather a sensible assessment of what it costs the country to import people rather than just what it costs the companies, the councils and the universities when it’s restricted.

Well there are lots of reasons why the economy is not growing. Some if it is the global landscape and therefore out of our control, and some is our own policy. It would be surprising if you could make one change and solve everything.

The UK always seems to have had low productivity levels and low investment levels compared with other countries, Brexit has made trade to our biggest export market more difficult and costly, after the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, energy become very expensive, the Bank of England has put interest rates up a lot in the last few years so making borrowing more expensive, the furlough scheme was necessary but cost a fortune. I’m sure there are numerous other factors but these are a few that spring to mind. We may well be in a worse position without immigration - certainly the NHS would be.

To be fair it is well known and documented that Japan has very very low levels of immigration and has an aging population. A lot of the country is devoted to taking care of older people as there aren’t enough younger people to do so.

We have a skills mismatch. Not enough plumbers, electricians, chefs, engineers, teachers (maths, chemistry, physics, computer science), doctors and nurses maybe. Plus virtually no British people seem to want to work in care homes, hospitality or picking veg.

Yes, people live longer in Japan. How fucking amazing is that?

I do not see how this is a failure.

But it will become a problem when the vast percentage of them are elderly.

The UK invested in these people by expending the FE and HE system far enough to get half the country educated to degree level.

so
a - what were they really being taught and
b - where are they?

You say 'problem'. What exactly is the problem?