The Japanese Baby Shortage

It’s not about growth. It’s about survival . A cautionary tale to the developed world.

Whilst the global population is still increasing, many nations are experiencing plummeting birth rates. Some might say, fewer people, fewer problems. Less stress on resources, less pollution, less crowded urban zones. Surely a good thing, right?

However, this oversimplified view fails to consider that cultures, societies, civilisations, and the developed world as we know it — needs people. Japan is a country acutely aware of this, as they lead a race no one wants to win. The situation is so dire, the Japanese government has enacted policies to incentivise their population to produce more people.

Japan’s parliament recently passed a law to enable the spending of $23 billion (US) a year on new childcare policies. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida views the rest of this decade as “the last chance” to reverse the trend of falling birth rates, or the country faces a worrying precipice, beyond which lies severe economic shrinkage, the extinction of hundreds of towns causing areas to go desolate, and the collapse of businesses due to mass retirements and workforce shortage. By 2036, if current trends continue, one-third of the Japanese population will be over 65.