An estimated 687,080 Japanese children were or will be born in 2024, falling below 700,000 for the first time and marking the lowest level on record, according to Asahi Shimbun calculations.
For comparison, Japan births in the past:
- 1935: 2.19 Million
- 1955: 1.73 Million
- 1985: 1.43 Million
- 2005: 1.06 Million
The reason for the birth decline is the change of the culture from both male and female working. The liberals and feminist convinced people that an ambitious woman does not need to beg her husband for money, instead they can just go to the workforce themselves, and become independent. The purpose of marriage is largely lost, and that is why marriage is coincidently lower, too. China, for example, use to have a dominant culture of the women only needing to marry a man, but since Chinese women are working too, they have no real need for a husband, and their career, and money become the priority. Work attachment is essential for increased wages. The longer a worker is attached to the work force, the higher the chance they take up better paying jobs. The culture has changed, plain, and simple. It has nothing to do with affordability or free daycare.
Your close. The issue was families could be funded on 40 hours or so of labor a week and that switched to over 80 hours. There is no time for children. If work hours were decreased as women entered the workfore it would not be much of an issue. Two people each working three days a week were one spouse can watch the children and work on the house in various ways while the other is working would result in more people having kids. Of course they would need to make enough to buy a house suitable for a family and cover other necessary expenses. In addition they should start working as teenagers to get used to the work world so high school should be 3 days a week to accommodate.
The purpose of marriage, exclusively, was to increase your parents wealth.
But more importantly you’re dancing around the fact capitalism is the root cause of all issues described and the elimination of capitalism is the cure.