Birth Rate

Japan mulls over more childcare policies amid declining birthrate

It stated that until parents' children graduate from high school, the government would abolish income limits and continue to pay benefits to the parents

Time and money for love: China brainstorms ways to boost birth rate

China dug itself into a demographic hole largely through its one-child policy imposed between 1980 and 2015

Japan will disappear without any action on births, says PM's aide

The population has fallen to 124.6 million from a peak of just over 128 million reached in 2008, and the pace of decline is increasing

China's birth rate continues to fall as women resistant to 3-child policy

Over one-third of women reported financial loss, and more than 20 per cent described losing opportunities for training or promotions

Japan births at record low as population shrinks and ages: Official

The number of babies born in Japan this year is below last year's record low in what the the top government spokesman described as a critical situation. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno promised comprehensive measures to encourage more marriages and births. The total of 599,636 Japanese born in January-September was 4.9% below last year's figure, suggesting the number of births in all of 2022 might fall below last year's record low of 811,000 babies, he said. Japan is the world's third biggest economy but living costs are high and wage increases have been slow. The conservative government has lagged on making society more inclusive for children, women and minorities. So far, the government's efforts to encourage people to have more babies have had limited impact despite payments of subsidies for pregnancy, childbirth and child care. The pace is even slower than last year ... I understand that it is a critical situation, Matsuno said. Many younger Japanese have balked at

South Korea in demographic crisis as average of babies born decline

Yoo Young Yi's grandmother gave birth to six children. Her mother birthed two. Yoo doesn't want any. My husband and I like babies so much but there are things that we'd have to sacrifice if we raised kids, said Yoo, a 30-year-old Seoul financial company employee. So it's become a matter of choice between two things, and we've agreed to focus more on ourselves. There are many like Yoo in South Korea who have chosen either not to have children or not to marry. Other advanced countries have similar trends, but South Korea's demographic crisis is much worse. South Korea's statistics agency announced in September that the total fertility rate the average number of babies born to each woman in their reproductive years was 0.81 last year. That's the world's lowest for the third consecutive year. The population shrank for the first time in 2021, stoking worry that a declining population could severely damage the economy the world's 10th largest because of labour shortages and greater

France registers slight spike in births after 6 years of gradual decline

In 2021, 742,100 babies were born in France, which means that there were 2,033 births per day, a soike after six years of decline

Pope Francis urges Italians to have more children, welcome migrants

Pope Francis traveled to southern Italy on Sunday to close out an Italian church congress that coincided with Italy's national election, and delivered a message that hit on key domestic campaign issues including immigration. Neither Francis nor his hosts referred to the vote during the open-air Mass, though Italy's bishops conference had earlier urged Italians to cast ballots in the eagerly watched election that could bring Italy its first far-right government since World War II. At the end of the outdoor Mass in Matera, Francis spoke off the cuff asking Italians to have more children. I'd like to ask Italy: More births, more children, Francis said. Italy has one of the lowest birth rates in the world and Francis has frequently lamented its demographic winter. Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni, who campaigned on a God, family and homeland mantra, has also called for Italy to reverse its demographic trends by proposing bigger financial incentives for couples to have children. Francis

Population collapse due to low birth rates a bigger risk than climate: Musk

This is not the first time that Tesla's top boss has warned about declining birth rates. In June 2022, he also shared data from The Wall Street Journal

China's life expectancy goes up to 77.93 yrs amid falling birth rates

Life expectancy in China has increased by over 0.6 of a year to 77.93 years even as the world's second-largest economy grappled with a demographic crisis due to declining birth rates

China may turn to forced pregnancy to tackle declining birth rate: Report

As China faces a scenario of negative population growth, the government has started to force its citizens to marry early and have at least three children each.

One in every 36 infants still dies before first birthday in India: Data

According to the new data, present level of IMR (28 infant deaths per thousand live births, for the year 2020) is less than one-fourth as compared to 1971 (129 infant deaths per thousand live births).

With marriages declining, birth rates reach lowest ever in China: Report

A sharp decline in the number of marriage registrations, accompanied by the ageing of married couples has led to birth rates in China hitting the lowest ever levels, according to a media report.

China's births hit historic low, a political problem for Beijing

The demographic crisis, a challenge to the economy, also signals a limit to the reach of the government, which has struggled recently to grow the population

Chinese county to give cash handouts to couples to have babies

A county in western China will give cash subsidies to couples to have children, the latest push to encourage more births in a country where the population is set to decline in coming years

China approves three-child policy with sops to prevent dip in birth rates

The revised Population and Family Planning Law, which allows Chinese couples to have three children

Population control fiasco

The ill-advised two-child policy must be reviewed

9 months after lockdowns, US births see biggest decline since 1973

The latest data are early evidence of the drastic impact from the health crisis on birth rates, with the full effect expected to show in 2021 data.

China's 3-child policy won't drastically raise birthrate: Top economist

China's recently-announced three-child policy will not help the country to drastically raise the birthrate, said a top Chinese economist, adding that country will struggle to raise retirement age

Japan's birth rate fell to record low in 2020 amid coronavirus pandemic

The number of births fell to 8,40,832 in 2020, down 2.8 per cent from a year earlier and the lowest since records began in 1899.