Photo/Illutration A newborn baby at a hospital (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The number of Japanese children born in 2024 is predicted to fall short of 700,000.

When I came across this news, I could not quite believe it at first.

It was only two years ago that the number failed to reach 800,000. The nation’s annual newborn population has been shrinking rapidly since eight years ago when, to everyone’s shock, the number fell below 1 million for the first time.

According to population statistics released this month by the welfare ministry, there were 329,998 births between January and June this year, down 6.3 percent from the same period of the preceding year.

Assuming that the number for July to December will be similar, the possibility of the year’s total ending below 700,000 is quite high.

It takes time for measures implemented to raise the birthrate to show results. But even so, the government’s continued efforts over the last three decades have remained fruitless.

Wondering why, I read “Chiiki kara Kangaeru Shoshika Taisaku” (Community-based measures to increase births) by Toru Nakayama, and was reminded of the depth of the problem.

Nakayama argues that the government’s current measures, including those that are touted as being “unprecedented,” are focused mainly on increasing the number of working women.

The outcome “could be considered successful,” notes Nakayama, in that the employment rate has risen among women.

However, their work environment did not improve and left many problems unresolved, including non-regular employment, low wages, awareness of work styles, excessive concentration of everything in Tokyo, and so on and so forth.

For example, in places of work with staff shortages, women are not free to take maternity or child care leave as they wish. And it is difficult for them to ask for shorter working hours or exemption from overtime work if their male superiors have an outdated set of values.

In short, unless the entire society is prepared to overhaul itself, no measure will be good enough.

Shocked as I was by the “less than 700,000” number, that’s the reality Japan has created for itself.

I wish every child would be born into, and grow up in, a tolerant society where there is hope for everyone.

—The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 13

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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