Japan's child population sags to record low for 27th year in row

Monday 05th May, 05:03 AM JST

TOKYO —

The number of children aged 14 or younger is estimated to have totaled 17.25 million in Japan as of April 1, marking a record low for the 27th straight year, according to a government report released one day ahead of the Children’s Day holiday on Monday.

Children formed 13.5% of the aggregate population, making Japan the country with the lowest percentage of children among 31 major countries. Their proportion of the total population fell from 13.6% last year, registering a drop for the 34th year in a row, the report showed.

14 Comments

rjdsr at 08:08 AM JST - 5th May

The three J citizens I've fathered are all being raised in a country with an actual standard of living, open communication, no race-based bullying, a huge house, and plenty of nice green space to run around in.

Japan needs a mirror.
jeancolmar at 08:33 AM JST - 5th May

It sounds great, rjdsr. Ever planning to come back to Japan? :-)
Triple888 at 10:30 AM JST - 5th May

No worries, there are plenty of foreigners to fill in the gaps.
evil_robot at 10:39 AM JST - 5th May

As long as this country continues to charge it's people over 1 million yen just for child delivery and assure them that they will be rejected from 80% of the hospitals in their nearest city then things are going to continue like this until the end. Not to mention the incredible lack of company child services and support, while on the contrary hundreds, if not thousands, of benefits for dog owners,... well, you get the idea. The government needs to do something fast and now to resolve this.
jinjapan at 11:17 AM JST - 5th May

i wasn't aware that japan charged 1 million yen for delivery of a child. our cost for having our children delivered here in japan was ¥300,000 per child & the government reimbursed us the total of ¥300,000 . 1 of the problems i feel is the high costs of pre schools. elementary schools are free ( besides lunch money ). another big problem is there is a lack of care for children of working mothers & most companies do not offer maternity leave. so, women who want to be career women as well as raise a child find it almost impossible to do both at the same time. The thinking here is still that you can't have a child & work at the same time. time to wake up japan.
medievaltimes at 12:01 PM JST - 5th May

Having/raising a child in Japan is not the most desireable thing.
flammenwerfer at 12:10 PM JST - 5th May

...and the deadbeats in the Diet have no clue at all about how to rectify the situation. Hey fellas "ganbatte" just isn't cutting it.
japanyesterday at 01:36 PM JST - 5th May

medievaltimes said it best with the least amount of words. most japanese girls i've spoke to said they'ld rather not have kids or would prefer to have em when they get over 30.
keshii at 01:43 PM JST - 5th May

evil_robot, I completely agree about the dog thing. All of the dressed up, pampered pooches I see being walked in Daikanyama just reek of misplaced maternal affections to me.

No one has commented about the timing of the report yet. Clearly the Japanese government are trying to send a (very subtle message) that Japanese couples should make more children on Children's Day. Ha.

I wonder if there has also been a drop in the number of non-Japanese children in Japan? Just curious, because I'd imagine it's the opposite.
WMD at 02:58 PM JST - 5th May

So projections say that there will be 1 japanese left in 600 years time. They are well on their way. It's not surprising. Who wants sex after a 12 hour demasculating day of boss a** licking, drinking with the boss, laughing at his "jokes" and going home at midnight ready to do it all again tomorrow?? Who could rise to the occasion with that depressing life??
Lolli at 04:03 PM JST - 5th May

I'm a mother of a 3 yr old. My Jp husband has decided we move to Japan at the end of this yr but I prefer to return to the UK where I am from. If we live in Japan (which I'm sure we will) I have decided not to have anymore children. If we were to live in the UK I will definitely have another child.
thepossum at 12:07 AM JST - 6th May

No wonder, with todays Japanese women giving their newborns a shove down the baby chute or even down the toilet. No surprise, women in Japan are just to self absorbed to offer anything to anyone else, including a baby. My how far this society has fallen since losing it's prescious money !
lipscombe at 05:09 PM JST - 6th May

If you ask me I believe that children are our future, we need to teach them well and let them lead the way. Only then can we show them all the beauty they possess inside
Kakogawa at 02:39 PM JST - 9th May

I'd love to know which country RJDSR is talking about. Doesn't seem that there would be many countries like the one he described left in the world today.