Japan heading for extinction, low birthrate
Main Category: Public HealthArticle Date: 06 Dec 2004 - 12:00 PDT
'Japan heading for extinction, low birthrate'
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The first annual white paper on the nation's low birthrate contains little new information, but it nevertheless should function as a wake-up call for the nation.
The Japanese government compiled the white paper in line with a basic law enacted in September last year to halt the steady decline in the birthrate.
The law requires the government to compile an annual report on the situation and governmental measures to deal with it.
There is nothing particularly noteworthy in the data included in the white paper, which lists the population, changes in the birthrate, causes of the low birthrate, expected social and economic impacts and countermeasures.
v But the paper sounds a warning that by the time we become aware of the problem, our society will be heading toward extinction instead of being the prosperous one we wanted to create for our children.
Immediately after World War II, about 2.7 million babies were born annually, but the number has dwindled to 1.12 million a year.
The number will fall below the 1 million mark in the first half of the 2010s and break through the 800,000 line 10 years after that.
As the annual number of deaths has increased, along with the graying of society, the population is expected to shrink by 700,000 each year from 2020, meaning that a population the size of Tottori or Shimane prefectures will disappear from the country every year.
The paper also refers to changes in the family make-up. In 1960, a household had an average of 4.14 people, but the figure had dropped to 2.67 in 2002.
More than 50 percent of households had children until the 1970s, but the number of such households has since plunged to 25 percent. Meanwhile, the number of single-person households has increased………………. CONTINUES……………www.yomiuri.co.jp
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posted by Ang on 24 Feb 2011 at 10:03 pmI think it's also related to the stress of their daily lives, and the population vs the amount of space currently available, too.
I also read the stress levels are messing with their systems or such, and making them less able to bear children....it sounds quite plausible to me, far too much stress can cause a person to shut down.
I think, even though it might not be the best idea for anyone at this time during global recessions...that we should make an attempt to allow a certain amount of Japanese to immigrate to north america for the purpose of of their country's race re-population...that is, to allow those needing childcare to have that service, thus they'd be more willing to have kids....also, the less stress factor in Canada for example, would benefit them.
But, all in all, I believe in most countries, the rate of woman realizing their right to have a career will lower birthrates in all countries...but, Japan is getting hit hard, and I think, we should help....if everyone looks up to them so much and admires their inventions, they should at least prove it by respecting their right to exist as a people, and not just a robot mechanic.
I've always wanted to live in Japan..but you know, for their sake, I think we should stop moving to Japan to allow more room for their own country to get back on it's feet.....we should visit and travel there as often as we wish, but, to live there, we take one less house away from a needing family, and another daycare center that their own people cannot have when they need it.
Wild Guess
posted by AnAn on 22 Jul 2010 at 6:26 amI think that is the consequence of women discrimination in Japan. Today, no woman would stop doing their jobs and no one would want to live their lives forever taking care of their children and husband. They want to work and be independent and not take all the child bearing responsibility.
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