Japan’s birth rate continues to decline, plunging to new record low

Num7

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Japan posted the fewest births in its recorded history last year, continuing a seven-year decline that further aggravates the challenges of its rapidly aging society.

The number of newborns fell to 799,728 in 2022, down 5.1% from a year earlier, to lowest since it began record-keeping in 1899, according to data Japan’s health ministry released Tuesday. The number of deaths rose 8.9% to 1.58 million for the same period, it said.

The lack of births means Japan will have a smaller workforce and fewer taxpayers to sustain the world’s third-largest economy in the years to come. The rising cost of caring for its elderly citizens, who make up a higher proportion of the population than in any other country, is draining the nation’s coffers, helping make it the world’s most indebted country.

"We recognize that the falling birthrate is a critical situation,” said Yoshihiko Isozaki, a deputy chief cabinet secretary, in a briefing Tuesday. "My understanding is that various factors are intricately intertwined, preventing individuals from realizing their hopes for marriage, child birth and child rearing.”

The government has been trying to increase the labor force by encouraging more women to work and accepting some immigrants. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has made support for children and their families a priority. The government will lay out its child and child-rearing policies and present a framework by June for doubling the budget allocated to them, Isozaki said.

The government allocated ¥4.8 trillion ($35.2 billion) from the fiscal 2023 budget to a new agency dedicated to children and their families, the Nikkei newspaper reported in December.

Japan’s neighbors are facing similar problems.

Keep reading:
 

IlluminatiArchbishop

Active Member
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996
Japan posted the fewest births in its recorded history last year, continuing a seven-year decline that further aggravates the challenges of its rapidly aging society.

The number of newborns fell to 799,728 in 2022, down 5.1% from a year earlier, to lowest since it began record-keeping in 1899, according to data Japan’s health ministry released Tuesday. The number of deaths rose 8.9% to 1.58 million for the same period, it said.

The lack of births means Japan will have a smaller workforce and fewer taxpayers to sustain the world’s third-largest economy in the years to come. The rising cost of caring for its elderly citizens, who make up a higher proportion of the population than in any other country, is draining the nation’s coffers, helping make it the world’s most indebted country.

"We recognize that the falling birthrate is a critical situation,” said Yoshihiko Isozaki, a deputy chief cabinet secretary, in a briefing Tuesday. "My understanding is that various factors are intricately intertwined, preventing individuals from realizing their hopes for marriage, child birth and child rearing.”

The government has been trying to increase the labor force by encouraging more women to work and accepting some immigrants. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has made support for children and their families a priority. The government will lay out its child and child-rearing policies and present a framework by June for doubling the budget allocated to them, Isozaki said.

The government allocated ¥4.8 trillion ($35.2 billion) from the fiscal 2023 budget to a new agency dedicated to children and their families, the Nikkei newspaper reported in December.

Japan’s neighbors are facing similar problems.

Keep reading:
State of the world is shit. Personally I would feel bad about having children and bringing them into this world of horror
 

PaulaJedi

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Zenith
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Elon musk believes humanity is in decline because we aren’t reproducing enough. He showed the numbers on Twitter once as proof.
 

BlastTyrant

Senior Member
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2,585
Elon musk believes humanity is in decline because we aren’t reproducing enough. He showed the numbers on Twitter once as proof.

I have heard this before also, it is a issue in the states as well, the last few generations have been having fewer and fewer kids all over the world. And this is anticipated to get worse, the destruction of the nuclear family and everything else going on, people simply don't want to have kids or simply cant afford it.

it is the same reason in Japan, high cost of living, lack of support, etc
 

vp8671

Member
Messages
154
The problem is money , richer people tend to have more children , poorer people , don't want to bring another child to this world, but rich people do need poor people for low-education services like , manufaturing and mainteninace.
 
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Einstein

Temporal Engineer
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5,363
I was thinking about this too. I'm in the USA and our birthrates are declining also. I came up with a couple of ideas. One is covid was really a genetically created sterilization virus. Two is our children are being educated in schools to become part of the LGBTQ community. That cuts down on the people having heterosexual sex. And the promulgated belief that men can have babies is just complete bullshit.
 

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