TOKYO, Jan 24 (NNN-NHK) – Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, yesterday warned that, the country is on the “edge of losing its social function,” owing to its plunging birthrate, and addressing this will be the government’s top priority.
Kishida’s remarks were made during his policy speech on the first day of a 150-day regular parliamentary session.
The Japanese leader highlighted that births last year are estimated to have fallen below the 800,000 mark, for the first time, since the government data was available.
As a result of the rapidly declining birthrate, coupled with Japan’s ever-aging population, the workforce is quickly being hollowed out and social welfare costs are ballooning.
Kishida said in his policy speech that, the government will try to implement unprecedented countermeasures to boost the number of births, pledging to “create a children-first economy and society, to reverse the country’s plummeting birthrate, that is hampering longer-term productivity growth.”
He said, he intends to devise steps and seek stable financial sources to achieve this goal.
Kishida mentioned, a Children and Families Agency will be launched in Apr, and a plan actualised by June, to increase by 50 percent an allocation of funds connected to child-rearing.– NNN-NHK
