(cont'd)
In Japan, the government has for many years been paying its citizens to have more children without successfully moving the birth rate up to replacement level (2.1 babies per woman). Many programs, but the total fertility rate is still only 1.39 babies per woman: way, way below replacement.
"At the current fertility rate, by 2100 Japan's population will be less than half what it is now." Picture what that would look like - less than half as many people and most of them over the age of 65.
Sociologist Masahiro Yamada coined a new term: Parasaito shinguru, or "parasite single." Harsh words for a working woman who lives with her parents and spends her entire paycheck on trendy clothes, travel, restaurants - instead of building a family.
"Immigration is being approached as a last resort. . The United Nations estimates that without raising its fertility rate, Japan would need to attract about 650,000 immigrants a year. There is no precedent for that level of immigration in this country, which is still a largely homogenous society.
(some content from What to Expect When No One's Expecting)
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