Japan recorded the lowest birth rate in its history in 2022, when almost twice as many deaths as births were reported in the country. For the government, it is urgent to have children, otherwise the Japanese nation could disappear.
“If we continue like this, the country risks disappearing,” former minister Masako Mori said in an interview with Bloomberg in Tokyo last week. The former elected official now advises Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the growing problem of the country’s declining birth rate.
This warning, the Prime Minister had also launched it at the end of February before Parliament. Mr. Kishida had then warned that the social safety net, the economy and the defense of the country are seriously threatened by the low rate of reproduction of the Japanese.
On February 28, Japan announced that the demographic crisis it is facing has worsened in 2022, since fewer than 800,000 births have been counted in the country, compared to nearly 1.58 million deaths (a population drop of about 780,000 people).
The population decline has also accelerated in recent years, when the previous record of 644,000 was set in 2020-2021, according to government data. The total population of the country should drop from 125 million inhabitants currently, to 88 million in 2065, according to his estimates, a drop of 30% in 45 years.
According to the World Bank, Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, is also one of the most aging countries in the world, with 29% of its population over the age of 65. By way of comparison, the small state of Monaco takes first place with 36% of its population aged over 65, while Italy takes third place with 24%.
Canada accounts for 19%.
Convince the young to breed
Since the number of seniors is likely to represent a heavy burden for the weak working population of the country, the government is trying by all means to convince young people to have children.
AFP
Tokyo, for example, has devised a campaign encouraging companies to let their employees leave work early so that they are fit enough to have sex.
Financial incentives have also been introduced, but analysts believe that these attempts have been too timid and that they struggle to address the structural causes that prevent the Japanese from having children, such as the cost of living or the family-work balance.