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The Decline of Japan's Population
A description and analysis of Japan's declining population due to low birth rates and policies.
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Japan's population has been on the decline since 2012 where it peaked at 128 Million people, and with the aging population and low birth rates, this is not projected to end any time soon.
Population Pyramid of Japan from 1888-2019
As the population pyramid shows, the population of Japan has been getting older and older with very little youth being added to the population. In 2020 the percent of the population over the age of 65 is 28.4% with only 12.5% of the population under the age of 15.
Average age in Japan by prefecture (2015)
Another factor causing the declining population alongside the aging population is the low birth rates in present Japan.
This links almost directly to the marriage rate of Japan, since only around 2.3% of children are born outside of marriage, which is very small compared to the U.S. at 40%.
So what are the other issues?
Another issue involves Japanese women
In the early 1990's Japan hit a major snag in their economic growth. The period from then to 2001 is called the "Lost Decade" in Japan
To deal with this economic stagnation, women began to be integrated into the workforce.
Awesome! Women have more freedom and can join the workforce to be able to support themselves!
So what's the problem?
Originally in Japan, women would stay at home and watch over the children, and they are still somewhat expected to even now. Japan has the highest gap between genders in time spent on household chores with men being around 15 minutes a day and women being nearly 2 and a half hours!
With this sort of expectation, and women now being in the workforce, while some still do quit their jobs to focus on home life, many don't want to.
Many women don't want to give up their work, so some try to do both and are overwhelmed with little to no time for themselves.
To avoid this, most women just don't marry. And by proxy, don't have children.
Even with the issue of less children, women in the workforce is insanely valuable and not worth giving up, so what are some ways to remedy the issue?
Well, the best remedy would be a shift in the expectations of home life! Men should be expected to work more at home with the children so that they have a balanced relationship. While this sounds simple, it isn't that easy.
These expectations are deeply ingrained in Japanese culture. There are many trying to break these expectations already by trying to take on more parental responsibilities, such as trying to take paternity leave. These sorts of changes are slow to spread though, so only the future can tell us how this will improve the situation.
While Japan's population issues are present and very threatening, it can be remedied.
The main points each have ways to fix them, the main issue is just that they will take time. While regulation of the businesses may seem pretty easy, Japanese business structures make this difficult.
For the issue with responsibilities at home, this cultural shift requires time, while the final main point, immigration policies, is something that will also take acceptance from the populace, which takes time.
This does mean that it is possible though. So with understanding from the populace and further role models working for change, the concern for population may be fully removed from Japan, but until then, we just need to hope for change.