Child of our times: how Japan’s birthrate fell to record low
https://www.thetimes.com/world/asia/article/japan-birth-rate-lowest-6x2c363df?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Reddit#Echobox=1749048148
Child of our times: how Japan’s birthrate fell to record low
https://www.thetimes.com/world/asia/article/japan-birth-rate-lowest-6x2c363df?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Reddit#Echobox=1749048148
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By the turn of the millennium, the mountainous archipelago, the vast majority of whose population is squeezed into lower-lying coastal areas, was home to 127m people, four times the population of Canada, which is 26 times larger.
In recent years, however, things have changed. This year, Japan has recorded its ninth consecutive year of falling births despite state efforts to halt the demographic crisis and rejuvenate the country’s rapidly ageing society. Alarm is acute in political circles in Tokyo as the number of newborns fell below 700,000 14 years earlier than the government had anticipated.
The reasons for the plummeting birthrates are complex. In a 2021 poll by the institute, nearly 80% of respondents cited the high costs of education and housing, followed by the difficulties involved in childbearing, a lack of space in the home and placing priority on careers
Japan’s continued population decline never surprises me.
My wife is Japanese. When we visit, I’ve heard her friends talk about the troubles of raising a family. Her best friend, who works at a daycare of all places, was told she had to give notice nearly a year in advance if she wanted to get pregnant. It’s anecdotal, but I’ve heard similar things from other friends of my wife. Absolutely insane, and that’s just one part of it all.
It’s either life or profits, and the generations before us chose profits so. Can’t have your cake and eat it too.
2012 the world economic forum released articles on how they were going to drop the population by half before 2050 through mandatory vaccines…. At what point do we take their word for it
Why is this bad? Isn’t the Earth suffering from overpopulation? Perhaps a correction, including in Japan, is in order.
So many issues contribute to this. Society is a reflection of government so when women are expected to produce but then companies employ discriminatory practices against mothers and women who can get pregnant, this is a natural result. Additionally, if you cut salaries so enough family income requires two workers instead of just one, birth rates will naturally decline. Governments are trying to figure out the problems of a commerce based production society without acknowledging that declining birth rate is a function of a well oiled profit driven society.
Japan really is 50 years ahead. We will all be there sooner or later hopefully sooner so the suffering will end
Spain has roughly the same fertility rate as Japan. I wonder if journalist fixation on Japanese fertility is driven by clicks from netizens who want to live out their Japanese harem fantasies.
The bigger Problem will be, once states really are struggling and to top it off, wars are declared – that’s going to be the time you don’t want to live in. Because for a nation that struggles to survive, human rights will be an afterthought.