Population issue in Japan
The country of Japan has a great education system, extremely low crime rates, and people there have a long life expectancy. There has been an ongoing national issue, however. The Population of Japan is shrinking. Their country is expected to lose twenty million people by the year 2050, or even up to thirty million. The population will drop from 127 million to 107 million by 2050 and keep going lower.
This video explains population statistics and shows how the population will continue to decline in the future.
Why is this happening? Several reasons are contributing to these problems. One reason is more women entering the workforce. It is a good thing that women are entering the workforce but that isn’t the real issue, working mothers often face discrimination for working while having kids. Surveys showed that 48% of women were accused of causing trouble and encouraged to quit their jobs after becoming pregnant. When women have a kid, traditionally they are expected to drop what they are doing to dedicate their life to raising their kid.
After building a career their whole life, it will be unlikely that a woman will want to have a child after knowing that she may have to quit. At the same time President Abe Shinzo is encouraging women to enter the workforce to help the country economically. Since women have more choices besides taking care of the children now, it is easier to choose not to.
Another reason is unmarried mothers are unlikely to have children and people are marrying at later ages than before. In Japan marriage is the most socially acceptable way to have children and women don’t want to be known for being an unmarried mother. The average age of marriage is thirty years old and if they get married at an older age, the less likely they will be to have more children.The marriage rate is also declining.
People in Japan are hesitant to get married as well. Japanese are concerned mostly about the economic part of marriage, more than people in other developed nations. Marriage is seen as more of a responsibility than about love. Men will avoid marriage if they are worried that they can’t afford it. A Japanese man feels that marriage is to much of a responsibility. Parents don’t want their daughters to marry men who aren’t making enough money either. Many men are not making an adequate amount of money to raise a family.
Japanese culture values work and most people with full time jobs work a huge amount of hours a week. They are busy so men won’t have much time to see their child or help the mother with parenting. Housing in the big cities is pricey, and even if a man and woman both have to work then they have to also pay for expensive child care and won’t get to see their child very often. The price and sacrifices of raising a child is too much for people in Japan so that is why they are turning away from relationships.
Even after all of this, many single Japanese people are not even interested in a relationship. A government survey found that 46.2% of singles said they thought relationships were bothersome. They rather not worry about it and focus on their career or hobbies. Another survey by the British newspaper, The Observer, found that 45% of women and 25% of men, were not actually interested in sex.
In Japan the gaming culture is huge. Unfortunately, Some Japanese men are choosing dating games over real relationships. It’s strange but they are doing it, they are playing games like Nintendo’s “Love Plus” where the player dates virtual girls. Many Japanese men choose to spend their time on video games instead of socializing. A Swedish photographer named Loulou D’Aki who wanted to study this subject said, “You have these grown-up men in their suits with briefcases, leaving their corporate jobs to read manga in the metro or play Gameboy at an arcade, you wouldn’t see that in Europe or America.”
In 2014 the total fertility rate in Japan was estimated to be 1.4. The fertility rate is the number of children that are born per woman. The fertility rate to keep a population stable is supposed to be 2.1 so they need to find a way to raise it. Japan isn’t the only country facing the problem of a low fertility rate. Many countries in Europe are also far under the 2.1 fertility rate, countries like Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, and many others. Even the United States is slightly under, but due to immigration, the United States is still rising in population. Japan on the other hand, does not accept many immigrants and 99% of the people living there are Japanese.
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