Japan registered, in 2024, the lower birth rate ever, according to government estimates and, at the time the “Baby Boom” generation has been 75 years, the country is confronted with the “problem 2025”, experts.
According to preliminary estimates from the Ministry of Health, work and well-being of Japan, Only 721,000 children In 2024 were born the lowest number that has been registered since the statistical studies began in the country, 75 years ago, when a “baby boom” was recorded with a record number of 2.69 million births.
Today These “babies” are 75 years old And Japan, which is experiencing an endemic birth crisis, warns experts, will reach a critical mass from this year, in what described as the “2025 problem”.
“Problem 2025”It is the name given by experts as Dipped the comediesfrom the Institute of International Policy Studies of Japan (IEPI), to the multifaceted – economic, social and even international crisis – that Japan will begin to face this year when the ‘Baby Boomers’ enter the old age.
It will be the beginning of a domino effect which will begin in the elderly homes and progressively affect Social Security, assistance programs and, ultimately, the national economy, and which comes at the time the prime minister of the country, Shigeru Ishibawarned earlier this week that Japan’s financial situation “is worse than Greece.”
According to an inquiry carried out in 2021 by the National Institute of Studies of the Population, eight out of ten couples consider that the cost of education of the children is the main obstacle to have more than one child.
The second most prominent reason is the lack of space.
Six out of ten respondents also consider it extremely difficult to reconcile professional and family life and long working hours discourage the couples.
There are now 200 euros subsidies per month per child Up to 18 and parents will be able to apply for children under three years old even if they are not working, but the battle horse is teleworking.
From April this year, a series of measures designed to transform the work regime will gradually enter into force: the companies will be required to allow workers with children of preschool with three years or older Choose between at least two work style optionssuch as teleworking, reduction of working hours or scheduling working hours, and allowing workers with children under the age of three to work from home.
Nursing care services to the elderly will be the first to feel the effects of the “problem 2025”. From this year, according to the IEPI report, “it is almost certain that there will be a sudden increase” of the number of people who need these care. THE Social Security is already the main underlying factor to the budget deficit of Japan.
A third problem is geographical. “Problem 2025 is a crisis in Large urban areas“, Like Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya,” where the increase of the elderly population will make it feel stronger, “says the report.
Japan is run out of time to solve the problem From the fall of the birth rate, according to researchers who estimate that the country will have lost 30% of its population by 2070.
The teacher Yamaguchi Shintarofrom the University of Tokyo, applauded the measures adopted by the government, but considers that they are insufficient.
“Women spend five times longer In household chores and the care of children than men, ”the professor told Japanese state broadcaster NHK.
“If men got more involved in the care of children, as in Western countries, we would be closer to the solution,” he added.
Birth in decline in Asia
Japan is not the only Asian country to face serious birth problems.
One of the most affected countries is the ChinA, where the demographic crisis has worsened for years. THE fertility rate fell to alarming minimumsweddings have fallen last year for lower value since 1980, divorces increasingly increase and the population has been constantly declining since 2022.
Experts consider that the solution to safeguard the future of the nation is in the education of young people, and are increasingly appealing to the obligation of schools.
While China seeks ways to increase birth rates, Chinese young people They are reluctant to be mothersbut they adhered to “e-gravidity”-which allows them to save money and familiarize themselves with motherhood, pretending to have a “”.
Also South Korea, the only country in the world to record a fertility rate less than a childfaces a birth crisis that has been going on for years.
The fall in the birth rate in South Korea has been part of the difficulties of reconcile care for children and professional careeras well as to High cost of education of the children.
Recently, to Capital Sul-Corean, Seoulwhich has the lowest fertility rate in the country, announced the offer up to 700 euros or tubal lacqueation.
“Many South Koreans opt for vasectomy due to their securitythe low number of complications and the cost-effectiveness, ”explains South Korean urologist Seon Yoo.” Maybe 1 or 2% of them then revert to the procedure. “
In some countries, governmental promotion governmental efforts are criticized for focusing on Short -term solutionslike bonuses in cash, instead of more lasting and sustainable changes, such as making the more affordable child care or improve gender equality at work.
North, the Russia faces equally serious. Official estimates indicate that by 2030 the Russian population will be 143.2 million people, The lowest level since 2012and which, in 2046, should be 138.7 million people.
According to the Kyiv Independent newspaper, the Russian president Vladimir Putin It has already acknowledged that there is a “”. And the loss of human lives in the Ukraine war is not helping.
