Japan’s prime minister said his country is on the brink of collapse if it does not fix its declining birth rate, calling it a case of “now or never,” the BBC reported Monday.
Japan’s birth rate last year was 800,000, compared with more than two million in the 1970s, according to the outlet.
“Japan is standing on the verge of whether we can continue to function as a society,” Fumio Kishida said. “Focusing attention on policies regarding children and child-rearing is an issue that cannot wait and cannot be postponed.” (RELATED: Jacinda Ardern To Resign As Prime Minister Of New Zealand)
Kishida recommended doubling the government’s spending on child programs and also said a new agency would be established in April to address the issue.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged to take urgent steps to tackle the country’s declining birth rate, saying it was ‘now or never’ for the world’s oldest society https://t.co/IwuQMdrsHt pic.twitter.com/ZZKz7hhrrO
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 23, 2023
Japan has the highest proportion of seniors in the world, likely due to improvements in medical services and nutrition in the country, according to the World Bank.
Fertility rates worldwide have plummeted 50% over the last 70 years, according to the World Economic Forum. Higher rates of education for women correlate with lower fertility. Iranian women in the 1950s raised seven children on average when the average schooling offered was three years. In 2010, when the average schooling offered to women was nine years, they had an average of 1.8 children each.
Other reasons for the decline in birth rates include lower child mortality and the increased cost of raising children, according to the WEF.
The U.S. saw a slight increase in birth rate for the first time in eight years likely due to pandemic restrictions. Despite this small uptick, the U.S. birthrate has fallen by 20% since 2007. In the year 2020 alone, the U.S. birthrate fell by four percent.
Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer has proposed amnestying illegal immigrants and giving them citizenship to address the United States’ declining birth rate, prompting backlash from some who pointed out the irony given Schumer’s pro-abortion stance.