Fertility is the ability to conceive children. Throughout the existence of humanity, fertility is what created populations of both animals and humans. Fertility rate is “the number of live births per 1,000 female population aged 15 to 49 years”(eLearning, Fertility and Fecundity). Different countries have different fertility rates, which can be caused by different cultural beliefs, living conditions, wealth, etc. Fertility rates have an effect on many things such as the economy, politics, and culture. Within a country, fertility rates often differ the most between rural and urban areas.
Japan, a country in Asia, has a fertility rate lower than the country’s death rate along with a low immigration rate, which is causing a decrease in the population. This change in population is causing a loss of tradition and tax collection problems. Being financially stable, or successful, is a great influence on Japanese people to have children. Japan’s decrease in population is negatively affecting the lives of Japanese people. A decrease in population means that more people are dying, or emigrating, from Japan than there are children being born.
To begin, as Japans population decreases, the money collected through taxes also decreases. This affects the Japanese citizens directly because with tax money schools, roads, and other services such as pensions are available. With less people paying taxes, it makes it more difficult to not only make these services available, but also makes it difficult to pay off the country’s debts. A decrease in population also means that there are less people to carry on the Japanese culture and traditions.
If there are not enough people in Japan to keep its economy stable, then the immigrant entries will have to be increased to raise the population. Japan will need to allow six hundred thousand people to live in the country every year to keep its economy stable. This will mean that the homogeneous Japanese society will now be introduced to many people that don’t practice the same Japanese traditions. Since fertility rates are so low, it may make it very difficult for the Japanese children to keep traditions alive.
The main reason why Japan’s fertility rates are so low is because women don’t want to stay at home like the past traditions. Now Japanese women want to have jobs and fight arm to arm with Japanese men. For this reason, many women choose to focus on their careers rather than worry about having kids and having to stay at home. Further, companies encourage women to have children later on, and some even offer services to extract eggs from the females so they can have children when they are older.
The attempt for gender equality is what is leading women not to have children. Women who do have children are usually at a point in their life where they feel secure with their job, and it’s usually in their late thirties or forties. Another influence on having kids is marriage. In Japan marriages are dramatically decreasing because citizens want to focus on their careers before settling down. Only three percent of babies born in Japan are outside of marriage, compared to the twenty to forty percent in other countries around the world.
This means that a low marriage rate in Japan leads to a low fertility rate. Coworkers, friends, and family choosing not to have kids can also pressurize other women not to have kids as well. The cost of raising children is also an influence on whether or not to have children. Most of Japan’s population lives in urban areas which means that children are not needed to help feed the family (like on farms). Instead, children remain dependent on their parents until they are teens and can get a job. This can be costly and persuade some people to not having kids.
Compared to Canada, Japan has a lower fertility and immigration rate, and a higher death rate. The fertility rate in Canada is 1. 61 births per thousand women, where in Japan the birth rate is 1. 41 births per thousand women. The death rate in Canada is seven deaths for every thousand people, whereas the death rate in Japan is ten deaths for every thousand people. This means that there are a lot more people dying in Japan. With a population of around one hundred and twenty-seven million people, over one million people die every year.
When looking at immigration, only 1. 6 percent of Japan’s population are immigrants, whereas 20. 6 percent of Canada’s population are immigrants. Overall, Canada has a 1. 2% population growth rate, compared to Japan’s negative 0. 2% population growth. By comparing Canada and Japan it is evident that Japan is facing dramatic population decreases because of their low fertility rate, higher death rate, and low immigration rate. Currently Japan is facing negative population growth where more people are dying than being born every year.
Because of this, Japanese citizens are facing problems where there are more and more old people, and not enough tax money to run the city and support the elderly. In attempt to solve this issue, immigrants are being welcomed to the country, threatening Japan’s centuries long culture and traditions. Women in Japan are taking on new roles in the work force, and are spending a lot of time on their jobs to become successful. To avoid obstacles, having children and getting married is delayed.
As this becomes a norm, the country’s future is put at risk because not enough people are getting married and not enough babies are being born. Compared to Canada, Japan has a lower fertility and immigration rate, and has a higher death rate. At this point the Japanese Government is afraid for the country’s stability in the future, and are promoting sex. What may seem like a simple decision, to have kids or not, is actually complex scale where both too many and too little kids can disrupt the balance and put a country’s future at stake.
