The decrease in the number of births, regular since the 1970s, has accelerated with the pandemic of COVID-19.
by Philippe MESMER (Tokyo, Correspondence)
money for babies. Thus proclaimed it the Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, who promised in his general policy speech on Monday, January 23, “unprecedented measures to stop the fall of the birth rate and allow everyone to participate in the education of “.
The issue of birth has dominated this forty-five minute speech. A few days earlier, the government had announced that the number of births had probably passed, in 2022, below the 800,000 mark, of the unheard of the first statistics in the matter, in 1899. The population of Japan at 1 ER was estimated at 124.77 million inhabitants, a drop of 0.43 % over one year. Twenty-nine percent of the Japanese are over 65 and 11.6 % are under 14 years of age.
“We are about to no longer be able to maintain the functioning of the company,” said Kishida. The decrease in the birth rate, regular since the 1970s, has accelerated with the COVID-19 epidemic. It is already translated into shortages of labor in an immigration country, an accelerated desertification of campaigns and increasing difficulties in finance pension – even if it is now possible to work up to 70 years – and social security. The financing of these services represents 33.7 % of the budget of the financial year 2022, twice as in 1990.
To relaunch the birth rate, the government plans to create, in April, a family affairs agency, responsible for thinking about improving childcare services, the work environment, but also up Family allowances, the doubling of which should be acted in June. The current system grants 5,000 to 15,000 yen (35 to 106 euros) according to parents’ income, per child, until the end of compulsory education, at 15 years. The government plans to remove the income limit and maintain the allowance up to 18 years. It could also increase it to 60,000 yen for a third child.
Another measure to study, the increase in the flat -rate allowance of 420,000 yen granted to the birth of a child. The Minister of Health, Labor and Social Affairs, Katsunobu Kato, wishes to bring it to 500,000 yen. The government also reflects on a system of coupons for families with children under 2 years of age, which can be used to pay education products and services.
In order to combat desertification, the Japanese government will increase in April, to 1 million yen per child, the aid today set at 300,000 yen, to families who leave the metropolis of Tokyo to live during minus five years in a rural area.
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