Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Monday that the archipelago’s low birth rate and aging population threaten the functioning of Japanese society, promising to tackle the problem through a new government agency, AFP reports, Agerpres reads.

„Addressing the issue of policies regarding children and children’s education” is a construction site „that cannot wait any longer and should not be postponed,” the conservative leader said in a general policy speech in parliament.

„Because of the low birth rate, we estimate that the annual number of births fell below the 800,000 mark last year,” he added. For this reason, Japan is „on the verge of being unable to continue functioning as a society”, the prime minister also said.

Kishida said his policy – which includes the launch of a new ‘Child and Family Agency’ in April – aims to ensure the „viability” and „inclusion” of the world’s third largest economy.

The Japanese prime minister added that he wants to increase spending on children’s programs in the long term.

„We have to set up a social economy that makes children a priority,” he declared.

Agerpres