Japan is grappling with a birth rate that has fallen to a record low. More than three in 10 unmarried men and women say they want no children, and one in five say they have no plans to ever marry.
More than 33.0% of unmarried men and 32.4% of unmarried women said the number of children they want is "zero," according to a fertility trends survey by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research covering 6,756 single people and 5,024 married couples, Kyodo News reported on Sept. 11.
Those figures were up 9.8 percentage points and 8.8 percentage points, respectively, from the previous survey. The average number of children desired by unmarried men and women each fell to 1.56, while the average for married couples slipped below two, to 1.95. The most commonly cited reason for hesitating to have children was that raising and educating them costs too much money.
Japan's total fertility rate last year fell 0.01 from a year earlier to 1.14, setting another record low. Annual births dropped to 671,236. That means the level of about 670,000 annual births the institute had once projected for 2040 arrived 15 years early.
Aversion to dating and marriage is also pronounced. In the latest survey, 42.3% of unmarried men and 36.7% of unmarried women said they had never dated someone of the opposite sex, while 24.0% of men and 21.5% of women said they have no plans to ever marry.
A 'Singles Tax' Backlash, and the Government's Response
To curb the falling birth rate, the Japanese government in April this year introduced a child and child-rearing support levy, adding a set amount to health insurance premiums to fund expanded child allowances and childcare services. Someone earning 6 million yen (about 58 million won) a year pays about 575 yen (about 5,500 won) a month, and someone earning 8 million yen (about 77 million won) pays about 767 yen (about 7,400 won). By 2028 those amounts rise to 1,000 yen and 1,350 yen, respectively.
The levy applies regardless of marital status, but because the direct beneficiaries are concentrated among households currently raising children, the program has drawn objections in Japan that it amounts to a "singles tax."
The government pushed back through the website of the Children and Families Agency, saying it is not collected only from single people. Its explanation is that increasing the number of young people in the future through measures against the low birth rate ultimately strengthens economic growth and the sustainability of the social security system, returning benefits to every generation.
