Japan's fertility crisis even worse than
before as births fall sharply
For a few years after the war ended, over 2.5
million babies were born a year in Japan. They are called baby boomers. For the
next two decades, the number of newborns ranged between 1.6 and 1.8 million a
year. Then, when those baby boomers reached the mid-20s, they produced around two
million babies, called the second baby boomers. However, the number of newborns
has been consistently declining ever since and in 2016, it went below the one-million
mark. Only three years later, the number is expected to go below 900,000 this
year, two years earlier than the government projection. Why so rapidly?
First, the fertility rate. Though it is not
as low as South Korea’s below 1.0, Japan’s fertility rate has been below 1.5
for the last three decades, way below 2.1 mark to maintain the population. Also,
the number of women in childbearing years are declining, especially when those
second baby boomers have passed their late 40s. Another reason is marriage. As
more women are educated and joined the workforce, they tend to delay the
marriage and as a result, have their first child later, maybe too late to have
another one. Finally, higher education cost is to blame. This is not a problem
only in Japan but in other east Asian countries like South Korea and China, whose
fertility rates are even lower than Japan. As a result, these countries are
aging faster than ever in their respective history in peacetime.
Where Japan will go? It won’t be so long
before its population goes below the one hundred million mark. “Hope” could be
one driver to bring more babies to families. May the hope be with Japan.
Enjoy reading the article and think why
Japanese people have stopped creating the future.
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