Effect of Induced Abortion on the Reduction of Births in Japan

Abstract

P ROBLEMS arising from the pressure of human numbers on the limited amount of natural resources available are not a new phenomenon suddenly appearing after the last war in Japan. Even as early as in 1930, the national leaders were seriously concerned about the problems. When the possibility of improving the level of living was threatened by a rising population even to a slight degree, it became a matter of concern among the Japanese people. The growth of the population of Japan became phenomenal soon after the last War as a result of the combination of the unusually high natural increase rate together with the increase from repatriation and demobilization. There was wide public awareness that the economy of Japan would have great difficulty in making the necessary postwar recovery and in expanding rapidly enough to support the increasing population. Thus, an intense desire to limit family size became widespread. The predominant means frequently used by the average married couple for the regulation of fertility was induced abortion. It is to be noted, however, that what has drawn the attention of those interested in human fertility throughout the world to Japan is not the simple fact of stated wishes for smaller families. This exists to varying degree in many countries. The extraordinary fact is that the Japanese people used the means available to them and actually had the smaller families that were their stated goals. The rapid fall in the birth rate since the end of the War can be easily noted in Table 1. In 1947 the number of births per 1,000 population was 34.3; in 1957, it was