H LV <hveeder...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/japan-population/ > > Median age of 53 by 2050?! > Yup. It is 47 now. The trends for the next 20 years are demographically irreversible. People could start having babies like mad and the population would still fall, with the overhang of elderly people who are past childbearing age. However, all projections after that are meaningless, in my opinion. Demographers there assume that the fertility rate will remain low. Perhaps it will, but that is no some kind law of nature! People can start having children anytime they want. You could see six children per family 15 years from now. (That's how long it takes to have 6 children.) Nothing stops Japanese people from marrying young and having children the way they used to. There is plenty of money and plenty of room there for large families. Much more room with larger houses than there was in the 1970s. People do not have children because they don't want to. They could change their minds at any time. It would help if government and corporate policy encouraged childbearing but from the point of view of parents, and especially women, it is as if the society is doing all that it can to discourage people from having children. That despite all the blather to the contrary. I knew many married couples in Japan of my age and younger, and I know this to be the case. - Jed
