Japan child numbers at record low

[lovuian]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6624049.stm

The number of children under the age of 15 in Japan has fallen to a record low, government figures show.

As of 1 April, there were 17.38 million children aged 14 or below in the country - down 140,000 from last year.

This is the 26th straight year of decline in numbers of under-15s, the internal affairs ministry said.

Japan has the world's highest ratio of elderly to young people, raising serious concerns about future economic growth and the funding of pensions.

New policies

The interior ministry released its population estimates a day before the Children's Day national holiday in Japan.
more...

They worked their people so much they didn't have time to make babies

[Ilsa]

1. More kids for the funding of pensions? Aren't they familiar with

"pyramid schemes" and how they don't work out?

[Froward69]

2. more fertilization needs to occour...

I volunteer.

[TahitiNut]

3. Let me look into my Wal*Mart Pragmatist's Crystal Ball ...

I see a future with a HUGE upsurge in non-immigrant "guest worker" visas in Japan ... and milions of people to the west, across the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan, taking boating lessons.

[Yukari Yakumo]

4. Pity they constantly slide into a recession for the past decade and a half. {nt}

uguu

[entanglement]

5. Rather than opt for inherently exploitative 'guest worker' type schemes

they should allow workers from around the world to immigrate and gain citizenship with all accompanying rights and responsibilities. A just, fair and equitable system would help Japan as well as the immigrants. One possible hurdle is the immense cultural chasm between Japan and *any* other society elsewhere. Newcomers would need lots of help with the language and culture.

[JNelson6563]

7. If I'm not mistaken

"outsiders" cannot become citizens of Japan.

Julie

[lostnotforgotten]

6. Like Japan - Why Would Any Aemrican Want To Have Children Today

The US is virtually bankrupt, The education system is a sham, The Republicans are stealing everything not nailed down, The constitution is decimated, The bill from Iraq will hover over the nations head for decades, etc, etc, etc.

Need one say more?

[Perry Logan]

8. Ouch. That'll lower the world's IQ.

[GliderGuider]

9. This is cause for enormous celebration

The two things that are sinking our world today are overpopulation (especially in Africa and Asia) and overconsumption in the developed world. Any sign of reversing trends in either of these two problems must be celebrated and encouraged. To look on this report as evidence of some kind of problem is wrong-headed.

Congratulations, Japan - keep it up.

[SoCalDem]

11. I agree with part of what you say..

The part I don't agree on is this..

Population in 3rd world countries and in the hyper-fundamentalists of the world is NOT going down anytime soon, and those people are the ones who are always , shall we say, "restless".

When only the super-poor or the super-religious are the only ones having children, this does little to assure stability geopolitically.

[GliderGuider]

12. Yep. That's why, as they say,

"Estamos tan jodidos!"

[SoCalDem]

14. jodidos??

Translation please:)

[GliderGuider]

15. Translation:

"We are SO screwed!"

[SoCalDem]

10. Not a bit surprising to me.. The people who have to HAVE those children

are young and struggling couples. Make it HARDER for them to live comfortably, and the smart ones will forego ADDING an additional strain on their already stretched budget.

When the family could be sustained by ONE income, the female (child-bearer) could afford to actually stay home and raise the young children. It made sense to actually HAVE them.

But when it takes TWO incomes to keep the couple's heads above water financially, and even with two incomes, they can rarely ever expect to live comfortably, WHY WOULD they want to add children to the mix...children who would spend more time in daycare, than with the parents??

People feel less guilt by leaving a dog or cat, so perhaps they just get pets instead..

As the two-worker couple leaves their 20's and 30's, infertility rears its ugly head, and for some, they are too set in their ways to accept the frugality that a baby would bring to them.

[hedgehog]

13. That's why the Japanese corporations are working so hard to develop robots..nt

[lovuian]

16. They work their people long hours and need to have

more recreation

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. "They worked their people so much they didn't have time to make babies"

Or they've educated their people so much they're too responsible to have babies.

[lovuian]

19. You make a great point they probably have a better

life

[Selatius]

18. If only Japan could export its birthrates to the third world, we'd all be in better shape earth-wise

Otherwise, the planet will be pushed to overload due to human overconsumption of natural resources.

[GliderGuider]

20. "WILL BE pushed to overload"?

Try "has been". That's what that global warming thing is all about. As Dr. Albert Bartlett says,

"If any fraction of the global warming can be attributed to the action of humans, then this by itself is positive proof that the world population, living as we do, has exceeded the carrying capacity of the Earth. So it is an Inconvenient Truth that any proposals to solve the global warming problem that don't include reducing populations to sustainable levels are gross intellectual frauds."

Who is Dr. Albert Bartlett?

[wuushew]

21. Big deal

The Japanese not only have sufficient personal savings, but are well invested abroad as well.

Japan is the model of how a top heavy demographic society should operate. At least they are not on an accelerating path of environmental destruction like the idiotic U.S.