Originally published at: Deaths in Japan far outpace births in 2021, resulting in a population decline of 628,205 | Boing Boing
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I wonder what their population numbers would look like if the country loosened up their immigration policies a bit. Immigration is the only reason the United States has not been facing a population decline in recent years.
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Yeah, still pretty sure I will have a job for a good long time to come.
(Guess I should add, I’m a pediatrician, for all who don’t already know.)
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Everyone will still have a job if the workforce isn’t replenished. Add in that “nobody wants to work!” and there will be way too many jobs, they’ll be giving them away wholesale.
(note: scare quotes & absurd ranting exclamation point used in lieu of /s)
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Yeah, not my point, and if this:
Add in that “nobody wants to work!”
is not sarcasm, I think we have nothing to talk about.
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There’s starting to be some gradual changes in their hardline stance. Still less than 1% acceptance rate of asylum seekers overall.
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This is what happens in a culture where women are forced to choose between careers and children.
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So, how does that photo relate to the article. What’s in the truck? Or is that just some sort of ad that’s related to the topic?
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Whut? That’s definitely not what the choices are. Japan has a social support structure to assist working mothers. Immigration is one avenue, but there are others.
The Japanese population would still be in decline. The population of Japan would increase. They are going to have to import more people as the population is very top heavy on the age graph, and will need caregivers in the near future. Unless they perfect those robots.
Japan is still pretty nationalists and isolationist when it comes to culture. It is going to take a paradigm shift. Maybe have the government subsidize children would increase their birth rate, but I agree that allowing more immigrants would boost their population and their economy.
Add for a dating app? Speculating, I don’t read/speak Japanese.
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This is good news! Plenty of science shows that when quality of life goes up, people have fewer children. The planet would benefit a whole lot from fewer people, so one of the best things we can do to combat environmental destruction is raise quality of life all over the world.
Unfortunately birth rate declines are a major trigger for nationalist racists the world over, and the response is usually to incentivize more children or restrict the rights of women.
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Do you live in Japan? I’m curious. The last decades women were expected to leave work after marriage but things may be better now. What are these resources for working mothers? What percentage of the population has access to them? What Japanese women say about this? Is it enough? If it isn’t, why? If having children is treated as a good thing and well supported by society instead of a burden squarely weighted on the woman’s back, why is the birth rate dropping?
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That’s the problem with xenophobia. Those immigrants will never be fully accepted as “Japanese.“
Americans (at least, non-bigoted Americans) do not say “The American population is in decline” because we recognize foreign born citizens as part of the American population.
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I think it is more accurate to say that when women have more options in education and work life, they have fewer kids, later in life. This does usually go along with overall quality of life, but important to point out whose quality of life we are talking about.
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That is an important distinction. Lots of young adults these days are delaying parenthood not because they want to but because they cannot afford it.
Still, it is better to be a poor person who has bodily autonomy than to be a poor person who doesn’t.
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Heh. Back in the Jurassic, in a time before I gave up on Reddit, I suggested just that in some thread discussing Japan’s population and economic woes. It was amazing how quickly and thoroughly the defenders of ethnic purity and sovereign rights jumped into to scour me. “Countries have the right to control their demographics!”
I was all like “no shit, it’s absolutely their choice to dry up and blow away if they so choose,” which didn’t seem to mollify them very much.
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I don’t live there but it is an issue I’ve read about. Perhaps @Jesse13927 can speak to lived experience. The government has made some efforts to improve but that’s been the message women have been getting for a long time
There is even a word for getting harassed at work for being a mother. Matahara.
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There has been a push in recent years to improve things, driven by government initiatives to address Japan’s dwindling workforce as a result of the dwindling population (in other words, these initiatives aim to kill two birds with one stone: keeping women in the workforce while making it easier for them to have children). This has led a lot of major companies to offer more robust maternity leave, childcare leave and adjusted working hours for those with young children. A lot of companies are also updating their rules to combat matahara.
That said, these initiatives are all extremely new and so their larger impact is unclear. Also, although maternity leave is a legal right, the other guidelines from these initiatives are just that, so I doubt that many smaller companies follow them.
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Most immigrants in Japan are there on a revolving door basis. Contract caps and different types of work visas make it harder to stay long term. Despite this, immigrant populations are basically keeping things afloat numbers wise.
That part always gets left out of discussions on Japan’s aging population. Seems so odd to ignore an entire portion of the people living in a country.
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As an American, I considered popping out a second kid (one more than I’d originally planned) just to take advantage of the benefits my home country doesn’t offer.
Free prenatal care- it falls outside of national health care since it’s not an illness so the set you up with a coupon book for visits.
Low cost hospital stay for birth plus the option for a week or two of care after the birth.
A check with a lump sum payment that covers most or all of the cost of birth.
Monthly child Affordable childcare/preschool/after school care
Paid sick leave/annual leave
Extra dental and health insurance for kids on top of the national healthcare
Regular health check ups run by the city
And my favorite - a place to set your baby while out doing things whether a crib at city hall, a play space at the post office, and baby chairs in the bathroom stalls.
I can’t speak for all employers, but the Japanese teachers I worked with made good use of their three year maternity leave. It was Kyushu though, they do big families down south.
If I had to say why the birth rate was so low I’d say it was the men. They by and large absolutely refuse to get with the times. So women are choosing just not to get married altogether. Not less kids, just throwing the whole system in the dumpster and refusing to participate.
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