Demographic Crisis in Japan against the Background of Attempts to Build Family-friendly Social Policy Tools
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.20.2023.87.06Keywords:
demographic crisis, low fertility rate, ageing population, JapanAbstract
Albite Japan has been experiencing unfavourable demographic changes for socioeconomic development for at least half a century, it is only in recent years that we have noted measures there aimed at no longer preventing the demographic crisis itself, but at mitigating its effects. All available statistical data confirm the demographic trend observed in the country, characterised on the one hand by an increase in life expectancy (which in itself is inherently a positive trend), and on the other by a low fertility rate (which reflects negatively on both the sustainability of the social fabric and the development of the national economy). In other words, it eventually leads to an extremely rapid ageing process in Japanese society. This rapidness can be judged when we contrast Japan’s natural change rate of -2 in 2007 with an alarming-609 per thousand population in 2021.1 The purpose of the article is therefore, firstly, to identify the sources of the demographic crisis in Japan, and secondly, based on them, to carry out a comparative analysis of the case in question to determine factors which have a decisive influence on the problem and to detect whether their occurrence is characteristic only for the Land of the Cherry Blossoms. All this can be referred here to Japan’s current social policy and constitute answer the question of whether it is, or not, overdue in the context of the titular issue.
Downloads
PlumX Metrics of this article
References
“Rising Child Costs 63 Million Yen: Study,” The Japan Times Online, 15 May 2001, at https:// www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2001/05/15/national/raising-child-costs-63-million-yen-study/.
Google Scholar
“The Constitution of Japan,” Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet, https://japan.kantei.go.jp/constitution_and_government_of_japan/constitution_e.html.
Google Scholar
Atoh M., “Japan’s Population Growth During the Past 100 Years,” in F. Coulmas, H. Conrad, A. Schad-Seifert, G. Vogt (eds), The Demographic Challenge: A Handbook about Japan, Leiden 2008, at https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004154773.i-1199.7.
Google Scholar
Dower J.W., War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War, New York 1993.
Google Scholar
Frątczak E., “Population Ageing in Poland,” in A. Hoff (ed.), Population Ageing in Central and Eastern Europe: Societal and Policy Implications, London 2016.
Google Scholar
Fukuda N., Marriage and Fertility Behaviour in Japan: Economic Status and Value-Orientation, Singapore 2016, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0294-6.
Google Scholar
Fukuda S., “The Socio-Economic Status of Women and Marital Fertility in Post-War Japan: Effects on Education, Employment and Family Structure on Parity Transitions,” The Journal of Population Studies, vol. 40 (2007), pp. 79-100.
Google Scholar
Hashimoto M., “Economics of Post-War Fertility in Japan: Differentials and Trends,” Journal of Political Economy, vol. 82, no. 2, pt 2 (1974), pp. 170-194, https://doi.org/10.1086/260299.
Google Scholar
IPSS, The Fifteenth Japanese National Fertility Survey in 2015: Marriage Process and Fertility of Married Couples: Attitudes toward Marriage and Family among Japanese Singles, 2015, at http://www.ipss.go.jp/ps-doukou/j/doukou15/doukou15_gaiyo.asp.
Google Scholar
IPSS, 人口統計資料集. 表４－２０人工妊娠中絶数および不妊手術数：1949〜2018年, 2020, at https://www.ipss.go.jp/syoushika/tohkei/Popular/P_Detail2020.asp?fname=T04-20.htm.
Google Scholar
IPSS, 全国, 生命表データ: 出生数, 1 March 2022, at https://www.ipss.go.jp/p-toukei/JMD/00/STATS/Births.txt.
Google Scholar
Jinguji M., “Pre-implantation Tests of Fertilized Eggs Get Green Light from April,” The Asahi Shimbun, 10 January 2022, at https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14518896.
Google Scholar
Johnson P., A History of the Modern World: from 1917 to the 1980s, London 1983.
Google Scholar
Katagiri Y., Jwa S.C., Kuwahara A., Iwasa T., Ono M., Kato K., Kishi H., Kuwabara Y., Harada M., Hamatani T., Osuga Y., “Assisted Reproductive Technology in Japan: A Summary Report for 2020 by the Ethics Committee of the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology,”
Google Scholar
Reproductive Medicine and Biology, vol. 22(1) (2023), pp. 1-10, https://doi.org/10.1002/rmb2.12494.
Google Scholar
Kato M., Women’s Rights?: The Politics of Eugenic Abortion in Modern Japan, Amsterdam 2009, https://doi.org/10.5117/9789053567937.
Google Scholar
KYODO, “Japan Enacts Legislation Making Preschool Education Free in Effort to Boost Low Fertility Rate,” The Japan Times Online, 10 May 2019, at https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/05/10/national/japan-enacts-legislation-making-preschooleducation-free-effort-boost-low-fertility-rate/.
Google Scholar
McDonald P., “Low Fertility and the State: The Efficacy of Policy,” Population and Development Review, vol. 32(3) (2006), pp. 485-510, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2006.00134.x.
Google Scholar
MEXT, School System, at https://www.mext.go.jp/en/policy/education/overview/index.htm.
Google Scholar
MHLW, Handbook of Health and Welfare Statistics 2021: Major Indexes of Vital Statistics (Number and Percent) by Year, 2021, at https://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/database/db-hh/1-2.html.
Google Scholar
MHLW, Handbook of Health and Welfare Statistics 2021: Number and Percentage of Induced Abortion by Age Group, by Gear, 2021, at https://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/database/db-hh/2-1.html.
Google Scholar
MHLW, Handbook of Health and Welfare Statistics 2021: Number of First Marriage and Its Percentage by Age Group, by Year, 2021, at https://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/database/db-hh/1-2.html.
Google Scholar
MHLW, Handbook of Health and Welfare Statistics 2021: Total Fertility Rates, by Year, 2021, at https://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/database/db-hh/1-2.html.
Google Scholar
MOJ, Maternal Health Law, Act No. 84 of 2013, Japanese Law Translation, 2013, at https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/2603#je_ch3at1.
Google Scholar
Mydel R., Japonia w procesie przejścia od demograficznej dojrzałości do demograficznego schyłku, Kraków 2016.
Google Scholar
Norgren T., “Abortion before Birth Control: The Interest Group Politics Behind Post-War Japanese Reproduction Policy,” The Journal of Japanese Studies, vol. 24, no. 1 (1998), pp. 59-94, https://doi.org/10.2307/132939.
Google Scholar
OECD, Young population, at https://data.oecd.org/pop/young-population.htm#indicator-chart.
Google Scholar
OECD, Elderly population, at https://data.oecd.org/pop/elderly-population.htm#indicator-chart.
Google Scholar
OECD, Fertility rates, at https://data.oecd.org/pop/fertility-rates.htm#indicator-chart.
Google Scholar
Ogawa N., Mason A., Chawla A., Matsukura R., “Japan’s Unprecedented Ageing and Changing Intergenerational Transfers,” in T. Ito, A.K. Rose (eds), The Economic Consequences of Demographic Change in East Asia, Chicago–London 2010, https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226386881.003.0005.
Google Scholar
Okazaki Y., An Analysis of Decline of Birth Rate in Japan, Tokyo 1967.
Google Scholar
Ölschleger H.D. “Fertility and Mortality,” in F. Coulmas, H. Conrad, A. Schad-Seifert, G. Vogt (eds), The Demographic Challenge: A Handbook about Japan, Leiden 2008, https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004154773.i-1199.14.
Google Scholar
Retherford R.D., Ogawa N., Sakamoto S., “Values and Fertility Change in Japan,” Population Studies, vol. 50(1) (1996), pp. 5-25, https://doi.org/10.1080/0032472031000149016.
Google Scholar
Saito H., Jwa S.C., Kuwahara A., Saito K., Ishikawa T., Ishihara O., Kugu K., Sawa R., Banno K., Irahara M., “Assisted Reproductive Technology in Japan: A Summary Report for 2015 by The Ethics Committee of The Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology,” Reproductive Medicine and Biology, vol. 17(1) (2018), pp. 20-28, https://doi.org/10.1002/rmb2.12074.
Google Scholar
Sato R., Shiraishi N., Bando R., Induced Abortion in Japan: A Demographic Analysis of Its Trends and Causes, Tokyo 2008.
Google Scholar
Schoppa L.J., “The Policy Response to Declining Fertility Rates in Japan: Relying on Logic and
Google Scholar
Hope Over Evidence,” Social Science Japan Journal, vol. 23(1) (2020), pp. 3-21, https://doi.org/10.1093/ssjj/jyz046.
Google Scholar
Slany K., “Socjo-demograficzne aspekty „syndromu opóźniania” i jego konsekwencje dla polityki społecznej,” Obrazy życia rodzinnego z perspektywy interdyscyplinarnej. Roczniki socjologii rodziny, vol. 17 (2006), pp. 13-25.
Google Scholar
Statistics Bureau – Ministry of Internal Affair and Communications Japan, Japan Statistical Yearbook 2023, 2022, 2-1 Total Population. B 1920 to 2021, at https://www.stat.go.jp/data/nenkan/72nenkan/zuhyou/y720201b00.xlsx.
Google Scholar
Statistics Bureau – Ministry of Internal Affair and Communications Japan, Statistical Handbook of Japan 2021, 2021, at https://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/handbook/pdf/2021all.pdf#page=23.
Google Scholar
Sugimoto Y., An Introduction to Japanese Society, Cambridge 2021, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108661669.
Google Scholar
The World Bank. Data, Fertility rate, total, at https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN.
Google Scholar
Tsubouchi Y., “Changes in Fertility in Japan by Region: 1920-1965,” Demography, vol. 7(2) (1970), pp. 121-134, https://doi.org/10.2307/2060404.
Google Scholar
Tsutsui J., Work and Family in Japanese Society, Singapore 2020, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2496-3.
Google Scholar
Tsuya N.O., “Below-Replacement Fertility in Japan: Patterns, Factors, and Policy Implementations,” in R.R. Rindfuss, M.K. Choe (eds), Low and Lower Fertility: Variations across Developed Countries, Switzerland 2015.
Google Scholar
Ueno Ch., “The Declining Birth-rate: Whose Problem?,” Review of Population and Social Policy, vol. 7 (1998), pp. 103-128.
Google Scholar
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, World Population Policies 2021: Policies Related to Fertility, New York 2021, at https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/undesa_pd_2021_wpp-fertility_policies.pdf.
Google Scholar
Van de Kaa D.J., “Is the Second Demographic Transition a Useful Research Concept? Questions and Answers,” Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, vol. 2 (2004), pp. 4-10, https://doi.org/10.1553/populationyearbook2004s4.
Google Scholar
Yamaguchi K., Takahashi S., Trends of Population Reproduction in Japan, Tokyo 1966.
Google Scholar
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
