THE BIRTH DEARTH: Diaper Maker Won’t Make Them for Japan’s Babies Anymore. “With births at a record low for modern times in Japan, a diaper manufacturer will transition from producing diapers for little ones to those for adults. Call it a late response to the market: Japan’s elderly have used more diapers than the nation’s infants for more than a decade. In a statement, Oji Holdings said its subsidiary, Oji Nepia, hit peak production of 700 million infant diapers in 2001. It now produces far less — about 400 million annually — due to declining sales, the company said, per the BBC. The number of births in the country has fallen steadily, from nearly 1.17 million in 2001 to just 758,631 in 2023.”