Japanese diaper companies turn to adult market amid demographic crisis

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Some diaper companies in Japan are now shifting their focus to the adult market as the demographic crisis continues. Research firm Fuji Keizai predicted that Japan’s adult diaper market is expected to grow by 16% to 98.9 billion yen ($626 million) in the next few years up to 2027, while the baby diaper market is likely to decline by 8% to 84.6 billion yen ($535 million) during the same period.

• Shifting resources: Daio Paper, a diaper factory in the Fujinomiya region of Shizuoka Prefecture, has already begun this shift for its products. “We can expect the market for adult diapers to continue to grow, and therefore we are devoting our company's resources to that market with a view to expanding these products,” Daio Paper marketing manager Kenji Nakata said, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, Oji Holdings announced in January that it would stop producing baby diapers and focus on adult ones instead.
• Continuous decline: Japan’s birth rate fell for the eighth consecutive year in 2023 to a record low of 1.2, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced. The ministry estimated that there were 727,277 births in 2023, 43,482 fewer than the previous year. Additionally, Japan’s death rate has far surpassed the country’s birth rate, reaching 1,575,936 last year. While the issue persists, many Japanese seniors are returning to the workforce, as a report in January revealed that the number of elderly looking for work has doubled in the past 10 years.

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