Bini Dahal

While many countries in the world are opting for different measures and policies to control the prevalent overpopulation, certain other nations are investing highly in increasing birth rates. Japan is one of the countries to make a huge investment in dealing with its declining population rate.
Japan’s population has been on a constant fall over the years. Making a comparative analysis of this developed nation's population between the recent two years, it was observed that the population of 127.1 million in 2015 fell down to 126.5 million in 2018. The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research of Japan has predicted that the population could drop below 100 million mark by 2049. The country’s workforce will surely suffer much, as most of the inhabitants are ageing and there is no active working population out there.
The Japanese government has adopted several measures to boost the birth rate, such as building more nursery schools to facilitate mothers' workplace participation, provide more child benefits and reduce costs for prenatal check-ups. The measures, however, have not proved to be as effective as expected.
Recently, Japan has gone for artificial intelligence (AI) matchmaking scheme to lure people into finding a love. It plans to provide 2 billion yen to local authorities to boost the matchmaking service next year. While there are many home-run matchmaking services available in the country, some have begun introducing AI system to get better analysis on the basis of details provided by potential matches.
According to reports, the system will ignore criteria such as income and age, and will, instead, opt for emotional quotient to match potential couples with similar values, hobbies, personalities and emotional intelligence.
While such technological ways could, to some extent, provide support for increasing birth rates, experts have pointed out one of the potential solutions to be helping young people who earn low wages. Research reports have suggested a link between income level and romantic relationship among Japanese adults. It states that lower income levels can result in loss of interest in a romantic relationship among people.
This shows that matchmaking can take place only if individuals are interested to find potential partners. Another major reason behind the declining birth rate is the prominent gender gap present in Japan. The working mothers are not supported well and they are expected to perform all the household chores as well as do their jobs. So, most women opt out of motherhood.
Japan’s concern is indeed quite surprising for us. There is no denial that other highly industrialised nations will face a similar problem in the near future. The reducing population will not create pressure among the people to carry the burden of economic development but also can bring loss of existence of a particular community.
With its massive economic and technological development, Japan has proved itself to be a model in the world. And to ensure the continuity of this feat, Japan should come up with more strategies to ensure that there is a proper balance in population. Collaborating with locals and understanding their point of view and finding solutions accordingly are the next best things to be done.