Society Japan's demographic time bomb: baby boom among foreign-born population

thomas · 15 Oct 2025

Japan has recorded a rare uptick in births — but the babies delivering the good news aren't being born to Japanese mothers. Government data from 2024 showed that more than 22,000 babies were born to foreign residents, an increase of roughly 3,000 from the previous year and about 50 per cent higher than a decade ago. The rise offered a glimmer of hope in a country where the overall birth rate continues to plummet despite years of political hand-wringing.

Most of the new mothers came from China, Brazil, the Philippines and Vietnam, communities that have grown steadily as Japan has opened its doors — cautiously — to more foreign workers. Japan's modest baby boom is being driven not by its citizens, but by those who have come from abroad.

Births among Japanese parents stood at 686,000 babies, 41,000 fewer than in 2023, according to the data, released in the same week as figures showing that Japan's foreign population is edging towards 4 million (3.2%) – a share of the 124 million population that would have been unimaginable a decade ago. The surge in migration has not happened by accident, and should not have been unexpected. It has been seven years since Japan's then prime minister Shinzō Abe – hardly a liberal – recognised the need to accept more low-skilled workers to address labour shortages. Non-Japanese faces are no longer a novelty in towns and cities and, increasingly, in depopulated rural regions. Immigrants work in convenience stores, restaurants and factories, on building sites and in agriculture and fishing. Previous descriptions of Japan as a modern-day sakoku nation of self-imposed isolation, whose leaders refuse to lower the drawbridge to all but a few foreign workers, are clearly out of date.

Japan’s baby boom among foreign-born population spotlights demographic timebomb

Rise in births in one sector of population is reminder of failure to persuade Japanese couples to have bigger families

www.theguardian.com

Ukigumo · 15 Oct 2025

One can look at these data in a number of ways; these overseas parent are from countries with a lower standard of living than Japan so provided one has a job, the 'Land of the Rising Sun' appears an attractive place to rearing children providing an incentive to engage in much coitus.

It seems that young Japanese people really are akin to giant pandas and simply can't be bothered to 'do it', and then endure the mendōkusai of taking care of children.

Lothor · 15 Oct 2025

The birth rate of Japan is similar to that of some European countries, and other countries in East Asia have even lower birth rates, so I think saying that they are like giant pandas is missing the mark. I would say that not getting married is the biggest factor, as so few Japanese people have children out of wedlock.

And difficulty in finding a marriage partner is part of modern life in high-income countries. I've seen it in the Jewish side of my family (my father is Jewish and my mother is Christian), where attitudes towards marrying outside of the religion completely changed in a generation, from something that was not done without a lot of resistance from the parents to it basically being a bonus if the partner is also Jewish.

Ukigumo · 15 Oct 2025

Lothor said:
The birth rate of Japan is similar to that of some European countries, and other countries in East Asia have even lower birth rates, so I think saying that they are like giant pandas is missing the mark. I would say that not getting married is the biggest factor, as so few Japanese people have children out of wedlock.

If, in Japan, getting married is a prerequisite to procreating and they can't be bothered to go through the interminable hassle of wooing, dating, engaging marrying and then doing the dirty deed, well my '' analogy still applies, just several stages upstream. After all, 'Even a cracked pot has a lid that fits'.

Lothor said:
And difficulty in finding a marriage partner is part of modern life in high-income countries.

The problem is women's expectations of a life partner have changed. They are no longer willing to put up with 'cracked pots' and rightly so. Finding a domesticated, hygienic, intelligent and articulate male has become more difficult because we get snapped up very early on

Lothor said:
I've seen it in the Jewish side of my family (my father is Jewish and my mother is Christian), where attitudes towards marrying outside of the religion completely changed in a generation, from something that was not done without a lot of resistance from the parents to it basically being a bonus if the partner is also Jewish.

I was watching a Jewish mother on TV complaining about their son and suggesting she wouldn't even mind if he found a suitable boy with whom to settle down. Interestingly it was my white English sister-in-law who kicked up a huge fuss on discovering her son was gay and was perturbed with him moving in with his partner. My fairly traditional brother, on the other hand, was far more accepting of it.

Ukigumo · 16 Oct 2025

Society Japan's demographic time bomb: baby boom among foreign-born population

thomas

Unswerving cyclist

Japan’s baby boom among foreign-born population spotlights demographic timebomb

Ukigumo

Sempai

Lothor

Freelance proofreader

Ukigumo

Sempai

Ukigumo

Sempai

Similar threads