The world's human population reached a milestone of 8 billion last year. Even though the Earth is getting more and more crowded, this growth is uneven. There are Japan, South Korea (South Korea), and China which are currently dizzy and struggling hard to increase their population.
China's National Bureau of Statistics released data showing that for the first time in six decades, the country's population is falling, with deaths exceeding births.
To increase the birth rate, China has promised to improve maternal and child health care and introduce subsidies and tax breaks for families. In some cities, the local government will even give a large amount of money to families with many children to help pay for their living expenses.
Meanwhile, South Korea, which currently has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, even offers free child care and allowances for housing. In fact, the 'lure' was not working. Many South Koreans who eventually have babies feel that one child is enough.
"I never wanted to have another child," Kim Ji-ye, a Seoul resident, told BBC News. Even with various facilities and supports provided by the government, according to him, parents in South Korea still have difficulty caring for and educating a child.
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"To raise even one (child) is difficult. So I just want to focus on the welfare of my baby," he said again.
An example of the 'worst' condition of population decline may be seen in Japan. Japan's plummeting population has been described by local government officials as a "critical situation" that could undermine the country's national strength.
"Japan is on the verge of whether we can continue to function as a society. Focusing attention on policies regarding children and child-rearing is an urgent matter and cannot be postponed," Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told lawmakers.
Japan's population has been declining for more than a decade, and 2022 broke the record low of births recorded in 2021, when only 811,622 babies were born.
Japan's cost of living is high and wages are not increasing. The government offers subsidies for pregnancy, childbirth and child care, in the hope that this ongoing support will be enough to turn things around. In fact, it's not that easy to turn things around.
"We are surviving by cutting our savings now. It never occurred to my husband and I to have a second child," said Katahira Kazumi, a mother of a four-year-old.
In 2021, 5,800 Japanese married couples participated in a survey. More than half said they were not having any more children for financial reasons.
Matsuda Shigeki, a sociology professor at Chukyo University, told Japan's NHK news agency that the Japanese government's financial support is only about half or even a third of what major countries in the West are providing.
Nagi, a city of 5,700 inhabitants in western Japan, is a remote part of the country. The fertility rate in 2019 was 2.95, far above the national average of 1.36.
Parents in Nagi receive 100,000 yen or around Rp.11.5 million for every baby born, assistance with fertility treatments, and free medical expenses for minors, as well as free lunch at primary and secondary schools.
"Plans to support new parents depend on the survival of a city," said Nagi official Moriyasu Eiji.