16940 thousand of Children

(Oita Godo Newspaper,May 5^th 2010, morning paper, Page 4)

16940 thousand of Children

In honor of children's day, the General affairs department announced the general population statistics. According to it, children below 15 years old is 16940 thousand, a decrease of 190 thousand as compared to last year. This is the 29^th straight year that Japan have experience a lost in population, making it even lower then 1950s. The general population has also decreased for 36 straight years, making I the lowest in the world.

The gender are as follows, 8680 thousand are man and 826 thousand are girls. Secondary school students are the most populous at 3560 thousand people, children who are waiting for entrance to primary school are 3200 thousand, the lowest among age group.

The birthrate is lowest after world war 2, with the establishment of child care service, the children from 0- 2 years old has gone up to be 3250 thousand people. However, in the recent survey, the birthrate dropped in year 2009, making the problem of aging society to continue.

Among the prefectures and cities, the highest is Okinawa, with the percentage of 17.7%, and the lowest is Akita prefecture with the percentage of 11.2%. The only prefecture that experienced an increase in children is Tokyo; Fukuoka has the same birthrate, and the other 45 prefecture experience and decrease in birthrates.

The percentage of children, on an international scale, even though every year is different, this year; Japan's birthrate is 13.6% lower than Germany.

 Comments

I think that the graying society happens to any developed country, as children are seen as liabilities, instead of assets. The investment that you have to put in one child is astronomical and the effort and time to invest might not be the best investment.

Many of people in developed society prefer to be DINKS, It means Double Income No Kids, it happens to many career orientated family who put money and promotion in front of their family.

In order to solve this problem, Singapore, has engage on a wide immigration, encouraging people from all over the world to settle in Singapore. Will Japan be able to do the same? Japan has always been a mono ethic society and in order to work in Japan, you must be able to speak Japanese and endure the hardships that a normal "Salary man" would, restricted by social obligations and responsibilities. But nevertheless, if I have chance I would like to work in a Japanese company in order to experience their working culture.

Tay Zhong Jie Edwin

Singapore

Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, APM 4