The Japanese Prime Minister at a press conference in Tokyo, March 17, 2023. POOL / REUTERS
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida promised this Friday an increase in family allowances and the amounts of parental leave, stressing that there was only one “last chancein an attempt to halt the drastic decline of the Japanese population.
Nearly 30% of Japan’s 125 million inhabitants are aged 65 and over, a world record after Monaco. The number of births in the country fell in 2022 below the 800,000 mark, a new low since these statistics began in 1899 and almost half as many as 40 years ago, according to government figures published at the end of February. . “In six or seven years, this will be the last chance to reverse the declining birth rateMr. Kishida warned Friday during a press conference on the new measures of the government on this front. “I want to create a society where young people can marry as they wish, and where anyone who wants to can have children and raise them without stress.“, he added.
Family support measures
Mr. Kishida proposes in particular to increase the allowances for early childhood, to make sure to improve the wages of the young people and to attenuate the load of the cost of the studies for the families. The Japanese government also hopes to raise the rate of taking paternity leave to 50% in 2025/26, and to 80% by 2030, compared to only 14% in 2021.
To do this, it intends to offer compensation to companies to encourage the use of this leave, and to increase the amounts of parental leave if both parents use it. “Couples will be able to share family and household chores, while reducing the impact on income and career development.“said Mr. Kishida. “More support is needed for single parents“, added the Prime Minister, while single-parent families in Japan often experience financial difficulties, especially single mothers.
Mr. Kishida, however, did not quantify the cost of all these measures and did not say how the State intended to finance them. However, Japan has already greatly increased its huge public debt in recent years through successive plans to support the economy and is already planning to increase its military spending considerably by 2027. The government should detail its anti-natality plan in June.