Finnish Library Book Returned 84 Years Overdue

A book borrowed from a Helsinki library was returned in May -- 84 years overdue, a librarian told AFP on Wednesday.
A book borrowed from a Helsinki library was returned in May -- 84 years overdue, a librarian told AFP on Wednesday.
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Finnish Library Book Returned 84 Years Overdue

A book borrowed from a Helsinki library was returned in May -- 84 years overdue, a librarian told AFP on Wednesday.
A book borrowed from a Helsinki library was returned in May -- 84 years overdue, a librarian told AFP on Wednesday.

A book borrowed from a Helsinki library was returned in May -- 84 years overdue, a librarian told AFP on Wednesday.

A Finnish translation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's book "Refugees" was received by librarian Heini Strand on Monday at the main desk at the Helsinki Central Library Oodi.

"The due date of the loan was December 26, 1939", Strand said, adding that she had never received a book so long overdue.

The relationship between the person who happily returned the book and the original borrower remained unknown.

"Usually these kinds of loans returned decades after the due date are books found when people go through deceased relatives' belongings", Strand said.

"People want to do the right thing and return the book that is the library's property...I think that is lovely", she added.

A likely explanation for the delayed return was that the due date fell a month after the Soviet Union's invasion of Finland in November 1939, Strand noted.

"The return of the book might not have been the first thing on the borrower's mind when the due date approached".

The so-called Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union raged between the neighbouring countries until March 1940, when a peace treaty was signed forcing Finland to make significant land cessions.

"If the person survived the war, the person probably had other things on their mind than returning the book", Strand said.

The book is a historical novel published in 1893 and set in 17th century France, written by the British author best known for his stories about the character Sherlock Holmes.

According to Strand, the library may make the book -- an edition published in 1925 -- available to the public again since it was received in such good condition.

"The quality of old books is usually much better than new ones".



Japan Births in 2024 Fell Below 700,000 for First Time 

People walk along a pedestrian crossing at a shopping street Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP)
People walk along a pedestrian crossing at a shopping street Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP)
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Japan Births in 2024 Fell Below 700,000 for First Time 

People walk along a pedestrian crossing at a shopping street Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP)
People walk along a pedestrian crossing at a shopping street Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP)

The number of births in Japan last year fell below 700,000 for the first time on record, government data showed Wednesday.

The fast-ageing nation welcomed 686,061 newborns in 2024 -- 41,227 fewer than in 2023, the data showed. It was the lowest figure since records began in 1899.

Japan has the world's second-oldest population after tiny Monaco, according to the World Bank.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has called the situation a "quiet emergency", pledging family-friendly measures like more flexible working hours to try and reverse the trend.

Wednesday's health ministry data showed that Japan's total fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman is expected to have -- also fell to a record low of 1.15.

The ministry said Japan saw 1.6 million deaths in 2024, up 1.9 percent from a year earlier.

Ishiba has called for the revitalization of rural regions, where shrinking elderly villages are becoming increasingly isolated.

In more than 20,000 communities in Japan, the majority of residents are aged 65 and above, according to the internal affairs ministry.

The country of 123 million people is also facing increasingly severe worker shortages as its population ages, not helped by relatively strict immigration rules.

In neighboring South Korea, the fertility rate in 2024 was even lower than Japan's, at 0.75 -- remaining one of the world's lowest but marking a small rise from the previous year on the back of a rise in marriages.