Posted on 10/28/2013 8:00:04 PM PDT by ReformationFan
Long-time BreakPoint listeners know about Japan’s catastrophically-low birthrates: by 2060, Japan’s population is projected to fall by a third, the same percentage killed by the Black Death in 14th-century Europe.
Japan’s demographic decline has spawned some creepy adaptations, such as lifelike talking dolls for elderly Japanese without grandchildren, or the borrowing of other people’s grandchildren for a day. Attempts to encourage child-bearing through economic incentives have failed, as they have in other countries with low birth-rates. Younger Japanese aren’t interested in reproducing themselves.
And now, according to a recent article in the UK’s Guardian, they’re increasingly uninterested in sex, as well.
A 2011 survey found that 61 percent of unmarried men and 49 percent of unmarried women between 18 and 34 were not involved in any kind of relationship. Another survey found that a third of those under thirty had never dated.
(Excerpt) Read more at breakpoint.org ...
We live in a neighborhood of LA County with a lot of Japanese families. Two or three kids is a common family size. I’m not sure how many of these families are here for good. Some are just here for a few years while dad has a work assignment. I think maybe they have more kids when they are here. It’s more affordable and housing is larger. Also, maybe the people who are daring enough to go live in America are daring enough to grow their families.
In any case, there is definitely no lack of Japanese children around here. There must be something about Japan itself that squelches larger families.
A few hundred thousand abortions every year eventually takes its toll too.
We lived in an apartment complex here in Charlotte for a while. There were three Japanese families in our building, including one immediately above us who sounded like they were engaging in extreme martial arts activities around 2 a.m. (Then they ran the vacuum.)
But anyway, each of the three Japanese families had three children each.
Very true. But how long will the trend continue before it reverses itself is anyone’s guess.
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