Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Japan’s birth rate ‘critical’ as it hits record low

Home National Japan’s birth rate ‘critical’ as it hits record low
Japan’s birth rate ‘critical’ as it hits record low

Tokyo – Japan’s health ministry described the nation’s birth rate as “critical” yesterday as it hit a record low for the eighth straight year, with the government moving to improve support for parents.

The ministry released data showing that Japan’s birth rate — the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her life — stood at 1.20 last year, well below the 2.1 children needed to maintain the population.

The figure was down from 1.26 in 2022, and was the eighth consecutive yearly decline in the country of 124 million people.

“The continuing decline in the birth rate is a critical situation,” a health ministry official in charge of the data told AFP.

“Various factors, such as economic instability and difficulties in juggling work and child-rearing,” can be blamed for the falling figures, she said.

Declining birth rates are a common trend in developed countries, and Japan’s rate is still above that of its neighbour South Korea, which has the world’s lowest at 0.72.

However, with the world’s oldest population after Monaco, Japan is scrambling for ways to encourage a baby boom to avert a looming demographic crisis.

Parliament yesterday approved revisions to laws to provide more financial support for parents, improved access to childcare services, and expanded parental leave benefits.

It was the latest government push to boost birth rates, an issue that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has highlighted as an urgent risk to Japanese society.

Among Japan’s initiatives to boost the birth rate is a dating app developed by the Tokyo city government that will be launched as soon as this summer.

Users will be required to submit documentation proving they are legally single, and to sign a letter stating they are willing to get married.

Stating one’s income is common on Japanese dating apps, but Tokyo will require a tax certificate slip to prove an applicant’s annual salary.

An interview will also be required to confirm a user’s identity as part of the registration process for the app, which has been on a free test run since late last year.

-Nampa/AFP