Japanese premier Fumio Kishida he raised an alarm over the drop in births in his country, denouncing that “Japan is at the limit of being able to continue functioning as a society” and inviting Parliament to act “now or never”.
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It is estimated that last year Japan had fewer than 800,000 births out of 125 million inhabitants. In the 1970s the figure was over two million. Birth rates are slowing down in many countries, including their neighbours, but the problem is particularly acute in Japan as life expectancy has increased in recent decades, meaning that there are a growing number of elderly people and a number decreasing number of workers to support them.
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According to data from the World Bank, Japan is the second country in the world for the number of people over the age of 65 (about 28%), after the state of Monaco. “Focusing attention on policies related to children and children’s education is a matter that cannot wait and cannot be postponed,” said Kishida declaring the government’s willingness to double spending on child-related programs . A new government agency will be set up in April to deal with this issue.
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Japanese governments have tried to promote similar strategies in the past, without success. In 2020, researchers projected that Japan’s population would drop from a peak of 128 million in 2017 to below 53 million by the end of the century.
At the same time, Japan has continued to enforce tough immigration laws despite some relaxation, but some experts say the rules should be relaxed further to help deal with an aging society.