Amid demographic collapse, Japan to increase cash incentives for children

September 03, 2009

Amid a projected demographic collapse that will see Japan’s population shrink from 127.6 million in 2006 to under 100 million in 2050, Prime Minister-elect Yukio Hatoyama has pledged to encourage births through government payments of $3,300 per year per child from birth to junior high school-- in addition to the $3,700 that Japanese parents are already given upon the birth of a child.

Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute, told Vatican Radio that for Japan to halt its population collapse, the average couple would need to wed in their early twenties and have four children. Recounting a recent conversation with a Japanese archbishop, Mosher said that the brightest spot in the Japanese demographic picture is Catholic couples, who have an average of three children. Only 0.4% of the nation’s people are Catholic.

 

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Further information:

• Japanese Population Numbers Expected to Continue to Decline (Vatican Radio)
• Opposition looks to reshape Japanese economy (AP)