World News @lemmy.world boem @lemmy.world 1y ago

Third of Japan's 18-year-old women may never have children: study

www.japantimes.co.jp Third of Japan's 18-year-old women may never have children: study

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has promised to tackle the country's population crisis with 'unprecedented' measures.

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Third of Japan's 18-year-olds women may never have children: study

www.japantimes.co.jp /news/2023/08/30/japan/society/teenagers-dont-want-children/

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"The challenge is that no single cause can be identified for the declining rate." Sure you can: capitalism.
- So true. Over and over again in the article it says that people can’t afford children and universities. It keeps saying the cost of living is up and then says there is no single cause people won’t have children.
  
  And you can’t discount Japan’s absurdly toxic work culture.
- I agree with capitalism being a main cause. Additionally, many people also just don't want to raise a child. They don't want the added responsibilities and lack of freedom. Even people for whom capitalism works would rather enjoy their own life.
  
  I just don't want to go through pregnancy, personally. Love kids but not enough to risk my life and permanent bodily changes. The being poor part is secondary
  
  Even people for whom capitalism works would rather enjoy their own life.
  
  Is that why the ruling class has no problem having kids, usually with a bunch of different people?
  
  I guess you still have a point. They typically have these children and then go off to live their rich lives instead of being a parent.
- Was going to say climate change, but really the underlying cause is capitalism there too...
- See guys. Pirky gets it.
  
  Is this a Corky reference?
- So brave. What an insightful comment. If you people stub your toe you will find a way to blame capitalism. Such a vacuous statement with no real world application.
  
  If people dont have enough time to spend and raise their kids, dont have enough money to raise them without despair, if they dont have where to drop them during work hours, people cant have kids.
  
  You really should think before doing a vacuous remark about anything.
  
  I can tell you're mad he's criticizing the system you've been indoctrinated to believe is flawless.
  
  I don't think you're above the behavior of saying something is 'a vacuous statement with no real world application' just because you don't like what's being said.
- It is after all, the only thing you people know how to call out as a systemic issue in the world, so it might as well be solely responsible for every gripe you have I suppose huh.
  
  Let's read the article and look the causes:
  
  "With the rising cost of living, I don't think people feel they can afford to, or comfortably say they want to, have children," said 23-year-old Anna Tanaka.
  
  In 2020, women got married for the first time at an average age of 29.4, or 3.9 years later than in 1985, government data shows.
  
  As people have fewer children, they are able to spend more on each child than families have in the past. That drives up the average cost of raising a child for the broader population
  
  Tuition at private universities jumped fivefold between 1975 and 2021, and by 19 times at public universities, data shows.
  
  These are all symptoms of capitalism. Alienation and seeking "class mobility" leads to people getting married later. The cost of living is a capitalist construct, and it rises primarily due to seeking profit. Colleges are also seeking to profit, and have successfully convinced people that taking debt early in life is good for individuals going into the labor pool. The debt also increases alienation and people who would have children are suddenly priced out of it due to education debt.
  
  "It's all about the money."
  
  Funny how it's always you people pretending like we have our heads in the clouds, when you don't understand this simple fact of life yet.
  
  It's okay, maybe when you'll older you'll get it.
  
  Let's be real though. You do understand it but you want things to stay how they are. You're afraid to come out and say it and I don't hold you above that behavior.
  
  There's a term for people like you, useful something. I can't remember it.
  
  Capitalism is surely partly to blame but it's laughable to identify it as the sole cause.
Sounds great to me. Wish every country had a declining birth rate.
- Honestly, if everyone woman only had 2 children that would still reduce the population without causing demographic collapse which is what Japan is undergoing. A rapid decline in population creates misery for everyone. You really what a birth rate that hovers around 2 for gentle population decline.
  
  I've heard the claim rapid decline is terrible before. I imagine there may be some adjustments people dislike which is easier to adjust on a slower rate of decline.. but "misery", how?
- Declining birthrates can be good when controlled and slow but like this in Japan it's not a good thing and it will cause many issues and suffering.
  
  Get real, the only reason it's a problem for them is they're too racist to encourage immigration from more populous nations.
- Ew. Glad you're not representative of everyone.
  
  It appears a lot more are comming globally, and into a world we've badly treated and poorly prepaired for them. I bet we mostly agree on that.
  
  Do you prefer the population size as it is, or a bit more?
To add onto the capitalist blame: people are conditioned to think in a capitalist way, and raising a child is a definite losing venture, hence people won't invest in that shit.
- If you can hardly feed and house yourself ... you can't afford to woo a wife or raise a kid :/ but that won't stop some people trying to half-ass it I guess
- Quite the opposite, capitalists want more human resources, human capital. There's an entire ideology, at least centuries old, about this. You can most easily read about it as: pronatalism.
  
  People aren't conditioned to think in a capitalist way, they're conditioned to think about their kids future not being worse than their present, since having kids can throw you into poverty.
  
  Some wrong language I guess. You talk capitalists as those who possess stuff, and you're right in this way. I talk about the liberal ideology of capitalism that produces consumer citizens and the glorification of individualism. The people a capitalist society produce.
- Tho, you make it once and have it for the rest of your life.
  
  The purchase price is negligible, but the total cost of ownership is staggering.
- You uh... don't know what you're talking about.
  
  Does he not? From a purely selfish financial pov having a kid is a terrible idea.
  
  Sure, most people don't explicitly think in those terms, but financial stability absolutely is a factor many people consider before having kids
- They’re not just brainwashed they are living a capitalist reality where those thoughts are rational observations of the truth around them.
  
  definite losing venture
  
  I get it now. You’re some teenager who doesn’t know that raising kids is literally massively expensive. Gee you must think you’re so bright for coming up with this idea that people are conditioned to think of kids as revenue negative enterprise! I can’t believe the size of the whoosh here.
  
  I don't think I disagree with you, but with this comment you're kinda being an ass
Sigh. All right. Guess I'll have to do my part. I can impregnate them. /s
- I loved when the news came out that Japan didn't have enough male porn stars and you could hear a bunch of chubby white guys considering a career change.
  
  What's this news?
It's more surprising that 2/3 of Japanese women have children before they turn 19!
Good.

103 comments