Japan’s births just fell to a new record low. Tokyo hopes a dating app can turn that around | CNN
www.cnn.com
Japan’s fertility rate, which has seen a precipitous fall for many years, has reached another record low as the government ramps up efforts to encourage young people to get married and start families — even launching its own dating app.

Japan’s fertility rate, which has seen a precipitous fall for many years, has reached another record low as the government ramps up efforts to encourage young people to get married and start families — even launching its own dating app.

The nation of 123.9 million people only recorded 727,277 births last year, according to new data released by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on Friday. The fertility rate – defined as the total number of births a woman has in her lifetime – dropped from 1.26 to 1.20.

For a population to remain stable, it needs a fertility rate of 2.1. Anything above that will see a population expand, with a large proportion of children and young adults, as seen in India and many African nations.

But in Japan, the fertility rate has been well below that stable marker of 2.1 for half a century, experts say – it fell below that level after the 1973 global oil crisis pushed economies into recession, and never recovered.

…

Still, the government is now racing to soften the impact, launching new government agencies to focus specifically on this problem. It has launched initiatives such as expanding child care facilities, offering housing subsidies to parents, and in some towns, even paying couples to have children.

In the capital Tokyo, local officials are trying a new tack: launching a government-run dating app, which is in early testing phases and will be fully operational later this year.

  • Toes♀@ani.socialEnglish
    571·
    24 days ago

    Here’s how you fix it.

    Cap a workers real hours to 25 /week. Continue to pay them exactly what they are paid now.

    Suddenly, they have free time, feel like life is worth living and having a family becomes realistic.

    You can see this pattern in wildlife. When resources are scarce and every day is stressful, no babies or few that survive. I wonder why 😨

    • SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.worldEnglish
      18·
      23 days ago

      And make families the most important thing in the country. If people’s status comes from the number of children and grandchildren they have instead of how big your house, car or yacht is, priorities would be very different. That would about kill capitalism, but it’s about time it was killed anyway.

      • thetreesaysbark@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        7·
        23 days ago

        I think this would actually help capitalism be less self-destructive. People would still be spending all there money on stuff. But the products would be more quality of life/child focussed. It then also leads to a larger base to generate income from.

        I think this would however destroy the current short term focussed ‘share price’ version of capitalism that were stuck in.

        • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.worldEnglish
          8·
          23 days ago

          I think this would however destroy the current short term focussed ‘share price’ version of capitalism that were stuck in.

          I see no problem there.