Japan is disappearing
it's population dropped by 800,000 in 2022. it's paying the price for its insular culture.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/26/japan-population-how-many-people-drops-first-time-births-deaths
Probably more like it's paying the price for its high cost of living.
When the cost of living and housing is so high that people can't afford to have children, or more than one child, birth rates drop.
How do they even hook up, they are always calling each other asshole
shareMuch has been written about this, boys hang with boys and girls hang with girls, and young people are generally awkward with people of the opposite sex.
Basically, the mothers deal with this by pushing them to marry the first near-stranger of the right background, who's able to make eye contact. Or whatever the Japanese cultural equivalent of eye contact is, because making eye contact is considered rude in Japan.
I was making a joke about them always saying ah so
shareYou might not want to try that joke in real life.
shareHeh heh I got the joke. Reminds me of Wood Yi
Signed, million man.
"How do they even hook up,..."
Here's one way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpQeJOCbH9Y Japan is a known world leader in this industry.
The same thing is happening across the developed world, it's just worse in Japan. It's interesting how in the wealthiest countries, children are considered too expensive. In the US, medical costs can be very costly even if people have health insurance, but it's also happening in countries that have national health care and most of those costs are covered.
What do you mean children are "considered too expensive", they ARE too expensive! Young people in their prime reproductive years can't afford rent on a 1BR apartment all over the civilized world, and they're painfully aware that marrying and having kids would mean raising a family in their childhood bedroom, because they can't afford to live anywhere else. And that's without the kids being old enough to demand their own iphones and designer wardrobes, in addition to healthcare and groceries and all the other everyday expenses that are becoming increasingly difficult.
And some people think that's why the aforementioned capitalist oligarchs are trying to take away reproductive rights and limit access to birth control, they want to keep population growth up because it means profits and cheap labor for them. But overpopulation hurts everyone else.
Yes, well, other countries that are much poorer often have higher birth rates was my main point.
There are a lot of people just struggling to get by on their own in the US, but I think there's more to it. Even people I know who aren't doing too badly are only having one or two kids, if they have any at all. I think with most of them, it's not wanting to have to deal with more children. Most people get to two and decide that's enough.
It seems to happen everywhere. Even in China, as the country has become wealthier and more developed, the birth rate has gone down.
India's birth rate has also dropped.
https://www.news18.com/news/india/indias-birth-and-fertility-rates-have-fallen-more-than-chinas-data-shows-3967391.html
So as long as regular folks have access to birth control, reducing family sizes as educational levels and incomes rise seems to be a common process. But there are still powers in this world trying their damndest to keep birth control hard to get, or at least hard to get for the ordinary schmucks.
Yes, access to birth control and knowledge how to use it is a big factor. Good point.
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