Japan: Demographic Crisis

Abstract

Japan has been adversely affected by the COVID-19pandemic which has had a negative impact on the demographics in the country in dramatic ways : the number of births in Japan has been on a downtrend since the government started compiling statistics on births in 1899 and this downtrend is expected to continue for years to come. On the one hand, the negative trend of declining fertility was laid down long before the pandemic by persistent features will continue including the gendered division of labor, rising rates of labor participation among women, breaking balance of work and life that ultimately has led to decrease of marriage rates and has caused women to delay plans to become pregnant due to economic reasons. On other hand, social distancing, changes brought upon by the prolonged coronavirus pandemic has continued to cause women to permanent stress which, in turn, also does not contribute to the solution of the fertility issue. For Japanese society, challenges which were caused by COVID-19pandemic may be an opportunity to re-imagine the larger role men play in their families (apart from work for family financial supporting) and this rethinking, with the adoption of certain decisions by the Japanese government, is likely to stop this negative trend in demography.