How about getting paid 1 million yen for having a baby? To combat a shrinking population, a small town in northern Japan has decided to give a cash award worth about $9,600 to each female resident who has a third child, an official said Friday.
To be eligible, the women must have lived in Yamatsuri town for more than a year, town hall spokesman Eiichi Takanobu said.
Yamatsuri, where the population has fallen from 7,400 a decade ago to 7,000 this year, is not alone among Japanese towns who are losing people.
As the country"s birthrate declines, demographers have predicted Japan"s population will peak at about 127.7 million next year and fall rapidly over the next half-century to about 100 million.
The situation is raising concerns about how future generations will support the growing ranks of elderly and how businesses will survive as the labor pool shrinks.
To encourage families to have more children, the central government has started building more day-care centers and encouraged men to take paternity leave.
It is rare, however, for a town to offer its female residents a large sum for having a baby.
Yamatsuri will hand mothers a lump sum of $4,800 within three months after giving birth to a third baby. The women will then be given $480 each year between the child"s second and 11th birthday, Takanobu said.
Last year, 50 babies were born in Yamatsuri, up from 40 in 2003, Takanobu said.
Japan"s birthrate fell to a record low of 1.29 in 2003 as improved career opportunities give women more options aside from marriage. Many families also put off having children due to the difficulties of finding affordable child care and weak support for working mothers from companies and communities.
Japan Town Will Pay Women Who Have 3rd Kid
生一個孩子就可以得到100萬日元的獎勵!?這可不是天方夜談，而是日本北部一小鎮為控制不斷下滑的人口出生率而使出的絕招兒。為增加人口出生率 日本小鎮百萬日元鼓勵婦女生第3胎。
How about getting paid 1 million yen for having a baby? To combat a shrinking population, a small town in northern Japan has decided to give a cash award worth about $9,600 to each female resident who has a third child, an official said Friday.
為增加人口出生率 日本小鎮百萬日元鼓勵婦女生第3胎。
生一個孩子就可以得到100萬日元的獎勵!?這可不是天方夜談，而是日本北部一小鎮為控制不斷下滑的人口出生率而使出的絕招兒。
據美聯社3月12日報道，為了解決人口數量不斷下降的問題，日本福島縣矢祭町(日本的町相當於中國的`鎮)政府近日決定，凡在當地居住了1年以上的婦女，在產下第3胎後，將獲得由政府提供的100萬日元(約合9600美元)的獎勵。矢祭町人口總數從10年前的7400人下降到現在的7000人，然而，像矢祭町這樣的情況在日本還有很多。
人口統計學家預計，日本人口總數將在明年達到最高峰，約1.277億，而此後的半個世紀裡將迅速下降到1億左右。
面對不斷下降的人口數量，社會學家擔心，日本年輕的一代如何去照顧越來越多的老人，而不斷減少的勞動力又如何支援日本經濟的持續發展。近年來，為了鼓勵家庭多生育小孩，日本政府已開始實施了諸如修建更多的託兒所、允許父親請假照顧孩子等相關措施。
但是，像矢祭町這樣用百萬日元鼓勵婦女多生的事例還實屬罕見。報道說，在婦女生育第3胎後的3個月內，矢祭町將一次性獎勵其4800美元;此後，在孩子2歲至11歲的10年裡，每年支付480美元。2004年，矢祭町的新生兒數量從上年的40個增加到50個。
報道說，2003年，日本人口出生率為1.29%，創下歷史新低。由於得到了更多的就業機會，當今的日本婦女選擇少生甚至不生小孩;同時，許多家庭因為找不到合適的託兒所或是母親很難從工作單位和社會得到照顧孩子的支援，也推遲了要孩子的時間。
