Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare is hoping that the promise of money will encourage people to have a child. Japan is trying to boost its declining birth rate by offering incentives.
Japan offers incentives to increase its birth rate
For some time, Japan has been attempting to increase its declining birth rate. The nation’s Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare is offering a 420,000 yen Childbirth and Childcare Lump-Sum Grant. However, Katsunobu Kato is hoping to increase it to 500,000 yen. Kato is the minister of health, labor, and welfare. The grant is open for new parents after the birth of a child. Kato also met with Fumio Kishida, the Prime Minister to further discuss the proposal. It is expected to get approved for implementation by the 2023 fiscal year.
However, an increase in grant amount is unlikely to deter people from wanting children and may not be a powerful incentive. Despite being called “Childbirth and Childcare Lump-Sum Grant,” there is little of it left following the childbirth part. Despite the award, the childbirth fee must be paid out of pocket. As per Mainichi Shimbun, the national average for delivery is about 473,000 yen.
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As per recent data, the current birth rate in Japan is 7.109 per thousand people. It is a 1.33 percent decline from 7.205 births per thousand in 2021. Even if the grant were increased, parents would only have about 30,000 yen left after returning from the hospital. The amount is less than the money given to spend on holiday meals for employees at Asahi Breweries. Hence, there is very little chance that the money will go towards covering the cost of the child and raising them. An extra 80,000 yen increase will likely not push people to have a child. However, the additional money will help families as they are growing in size. The 80,000 yen increase will be the highest increase in Childbirth and Childcare Lump-Sum Grant.