Japan, Australia Face Significant Declines in Birth Rate

Japan’s population declined for the 15th consecutive year, prompting Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to allocate as much as 3.6 trillion yen (US$22.3 billion) per year to reverse the trend, which, according to an analyst, would not be enough. According to Japan’s Population Strategy Council, 744 of Japan’s 1,729 municipalities were “likely to vanish” by 2050 after its population decreased by more than 861,000 people. In 2023, Japan saw 727,000 births, the lowest since records began in 1899. “While Kishida’s administration is hesitant to address the initiative’s future burden on the public, the other unanswered question is whether funding alone can solve Japan’s decline in births. It appears unlikely that financial incentives alone will increase birth rates,” Yasuo Takao, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry at Curtin University, wrote on East Asia Forum....