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Births in Japan hit record low as government warns crisis at ‘critical state’ (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 8 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/worldnews@lemmy.world

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Birthrate continues to fall as young people increasingly reluctant to have children due to bleak job prospects, cost of living and work culture

The number of babies born in Japan last year fell for an eighth straight year to a new low, government data has shown, and a top official says it is critical for the country to reverse the trend in the coming half-dozen years.

The 758,631 babies born in Japan in 2023 were a 5.1% decline from the previous year, according to the Health and Welfare Ministry on Tuesday. It was the lowest number of births since Japan started compiling the statistics in 1899.

The number of marriages fell by 5.9% to 489,281 couples, falling below a half million for the first time in 90 years – one of the key reasons for the declining births. Out-of-wedlock births are rare in Japan because of family values based on a paternalistic tradition.

Surveys show that many younger Japanese balk at marrying or having families, discouraged by bleak job prospects, the high cost of living that rises at a faster pace than salaries and corporate cultures that are not compatible with having both parents work. Crying babies and children playing outside are increasingly considered a nuisance, and many young parents say they often feel isolated.

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[–] psvrh@lemmy.ca 15 points 8 months ago (1 children)

In other parts of the world, we get around this problem by farming immigrants for cheap labour.

I can't imagine the pressure the Japanese government is under to "open the floodgates" so that capitalism can metastasize.

It's also amazing the lengths that the wealthy will go to to inflict misery rather than imorothe lives of everyone.

[–] Ludrol@szmer.info 17 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Japan is in a weird spot. They have weebs that would break arm and leg just to get in there, but the people are very natonalistic\xenophobic and reluctant to change.

Right now they can't attract anyone elese as they have outdated bureaucracy and toxic work culture.

[–] No_Eponym@lemmy.ca 6 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I'm not sure weebs are going to solve their birthrate or labour force issues.

[–] chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I'd say some of us weebs work etc, but all the ones I know who do simply like Anime and arent obsessed with getting an Asian waifu or husbando. In fact, most I associate with are in long stable relationships already, and I've seen no evidence the others have such a preference.

My family and I do want to visit Japan, and one of my sisters lived there. Another of my sisters lived in Korea, and she found dating hard there because none of the men wanted a serious relationship, they just thought a black American girl would be kinky. They'd tell her they still want to marry another Korean, because no one would want to have mixed babies. Iirc she told me they specifically used [nword]babies.

So personally I especially wouldn't see myself living in such a racism country easily.

[–] Ludrol@szmer.info 4 points 8 months ago

It wont solve it but kick a can down the road, and for japan that would be enough for now.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

The weebs would certainly love to try to solve their birth rate problem.

[–] Not_mikey@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

They actually have a somewhat open door policy for the weebs through JET. If your an American with a college degree than your welcome in Japan. There just aren't that many of them and those people also don't tend to have children.

There are a ton of people in the Philippines and S.E.A that would do anything to get to Japan even if the work is hard because the standard of living is so much better, much like Mexicans and central Americans wanting to come to the u.s. They would also be more willing to start families. Like the u.s. though they don't like brown people and only let a limited amount of them in legally.

[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Those weebs are also not the same culture so using them won't provide the 1:1 gains of using a person who grew up in the culture.

[–] Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

Japan: we got NEETs at home.