Latest news with #fertilityRate
South China Morning Post
4 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
As Japan's birth rate falls to a record low, a ‘critical' demographic crisis unfolds
Japan is facing a severe demographic crisis, marked by a historic low in its birth rate alongside a rapidly ageing population. In 2024, the number of babies born in the country fell to 686,061, marking the first time this figure has dropped below 700,000 since record-keeping began in 1899, according to a health ministry announcement on Wednesday. Births dropped by 41,227, or 5.7 per cent, from the previous year. It was only two years ago, in 2022, that the figure fell below the 800,000 birth threshold. A ministry official said the situation was 'critical' as 'multiple complex factors are preventing individuals from fulfilling their hopes of marriage and starting families,' The Asahi newspaper reported. The country's demographic crisis is advancing 15 years ahead of experts' predictions, who had forecast around 755,000 births for 2024, and did not anticipate that births would fall below 690,000 until 2039. Additionally, Japan's total fertility rate – the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime – dropped to a historic low of 1.15, down from 1.20 the previous year, underscoring the country's ongoing trend of delayed marriage and childbirth. Both the birth and fertility rates have decreased for nine consecutive years. The figures exclude foreign nationals born in Japan and Japanese born outside the country. Japan also saw a record high of 1,605,298 deaths in 2024, a 1.9 per cent increase from the previous year. This led to a population loss of 919,237 people, marking the 18th consecutive year of decline and the largest recorded.
Telegraph
27-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
The woker sex are turning Britain Left-wing
Let me begin by saying I'm a firm believer in gender equality. It's why I no longer consider myself a 'feminist', at least not in the modish, man-bashing, 21st century definition of the word. But we should not pretend that, for its countless benefits, female emancipation and the feminisation of our workforce have not come with costs, trade-offs and unintended consequences. Perhaps the most pertinent of these, to Nigel Farage at least, is our declining fertility rate. In 1970, the average woman was having 2.57 children; now it's 1.44, far short of the 2.1 required to maintain a stable population. Farage wants marriage tax breaks to incentivise family formation – good policy, though it'll cost a few bob, that will do next to nothing to alleviate our demographic woes. The pro-natalist Right hope women can be bribed into having more children; evidence from Hungary, South Korea and Japan tell a different, bleaker story. We handed women choice, and they opted to hang up the apron and shove the hoover in the cupboard. Where did they go? First, to higher education, where they make up 57 per cent of all students. And from there, into teaching, nursing, the creative arts, retail, hospitality, social work and local government – all sectors where women outnumber men. Every time their representation exceeds 50 per cent, we cheer. Where men still dominate, it's evidence of the 'patriarchy'. In few areas is the female presence, or influence, more pronounced than Human Resources, where around 75 per cent of professionals and a seriously bonkers 91 per cent of administrators are women. And the turkeys are voting for veganism: consciously or otherwise women are advancing policies which cater to their own needs, irrespective of the impact on the bottom line. It suits women to work flexibly – surveys show most want a hybrid model of two to three days from home – one of the practices most ardently advanced by HR teams. Just ask the estate agent who won a payout of more than £180,000 after her boss refused to let her leave work early to collect her daughter from nursery. It also suits women to advance such causes as 'equal pay for equal work', a quasi-Marxist concept which dictates that female cleaners, for instance, ought to receive the same remuneration as male warehouse workers. Yet none of these measures appears to be improving output – productivity in the public sector is no higher than it was in 1996, before the internet took off – nor are they making us happier. Britain has one of the largest HR sectors in the world and has just been crowned the work from home capital of Europe, yet we're suffering from a worklessness crisis driven by mental health problems. They are also allowing us to overlook the plight of men, who are more likely to struggle in education and work. When studies consistently show that women are more likely than men to align with progressive ideologies, support identity politics and advocate for censorship, their dominance in HR takes on greater significance. They are, indeed, the woker sex, and their ideology is shaping institutions and businesses across the country. Firms have become excessively politicised, with corporate policies no longer focused solely on profitability or efficiency but virtue signalling and adherence to the creed of 'diversity, equity and inclusion'. Consider, for instance, when Aviva CEO Amanda Blanc told MPs that there was no senior 'non-diverse' (white male) hire made at the company without her approval. Or when Alison Rose made climate change a 'central pillar' of her leadership at NatWest. It should come as no great shock that women are increasingly voting Left – especially given they are over-represented in the public sector and perhaps therefore predisposed to big statism. The real surprise is that this gender gap has taken so long to emerge. Three out of five Reform voters were male at the most recent general election. Since 2017, women have been more likely than men to vote Labour. In response, alarm has been mounting in the Conservative tent – which is presumably why Jeremy Hunt expanded 'free' childcare at a cost of £4 billion to the taxpayer. The party now has its fourth female leader, was able to define 'woman' long before Keir Starmer, and former Tory MP Bim Afolami was the first father in British parliamentary history to vote by proxy while on paternity leave. But none of it is sticking. Perhaps Farage will reverse the trend. But for now, Britain is becoming a Left-wing country, one woman at a time.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Baby bonus: Can Trump boost the birth rate?
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. President Trump wants Americans to have more babies—and he's willing to pay them to reproduce, said Michelle Goldberg in The New York Times. With Vice President JD Vance and other social conservatives leading the pro-natalist charge, the administration is considering several policies designed to raise the fertility rate, including giving women a $5,000 bonus for every birth, providing financial aid for IVF treatments, and reserving 30 percent of Fulbright scholarships for married people or parents. Trump last week said the baby bonus "sounds like a good idea." Declining fertility is a real problem globally, creating elderly societies without enough workers to sustain the social safety net. The U.S.'s fertility rate fell in 2023 to a historic low of 1.62 births per woman. But the right-wing "natalist milieu is rife with misogyny, white supremacy, and eugenics," and promotes traditional gender roles, with stay-at-home moms getting stuck with "all the domestic drudgery." For that reason, Trump's paternalistic pro-natalism "is doomed to fail." This is a rare Trump idea that's not "deranged, illegal, or immoral," said Mona Charen in The Bulwark. But the same administration that insists on the need for more future workers treats immigration "as a mortal threat." When Trump encourages parenthood but demonizes immigrants, it's clear he wants "more white babies." To truly incentivize having children, said Bethany Mandel in the New York Post, we need "durable policy change" and a pro-family cultural shift. As a conservative mother of six, I know too well that $5,000 feels like a "pat on the head as families struggle to stay afloat amid rising costs." But several House Republicans have proposed easing the burden by boosting the Child Tax Credit from $2,000 to $4,200 per year for kids under 6 and $3,000 for older children. Kids aren't a "one-time cost, but a long-term commitment." Why, then, are Republicans also pushing "anti-baby policies"? asked Mary Ellen Klas in Bloomberg. They're considering major Medicaid cuts that will hurt women, while DOGE has slashed funding for maternal and postpartum care. In the end, however, parenthood isn't just a financial decision. "It's also a profound act of hope"—and Americans aren't "feeling especially hopeful." They're worried about Trump's economic and political chaos and where a bitterly divided country is headed. Given all that, "asking young people to forget all their troubles and bring children into the world" is "not just ironic—it's irresponsible."
CTV News
10-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Immigration accounts for Quebec's population hitting 9.1 million
Montreal Watch Quebec's population grew to 9.1 million with the increase being attributed to immigration as the province's fertility rate is at a record low.
