Date: 06/01/2023

Relevance: GS-1: Role of women and women’s organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies.

Key Phrases: Demographic Crisis, Population, Growth Rate, Hinterlands, Migrate, Financial Incentive, Urban City, Birthrate, Metropolitan, Monetary Incentive, Pandemic.

Why in News?

• The Japanese government is offering young families in Tokyo 1 million yen (about $7,600) per child to move to the hinterlands, or even the hillier and less inhabited regions of the greater Tokyo area.

Key Highlights:

• To encourage parents to migrate out of Tokyo, the Japanese government has increased the financial incentive for those who decide to do so.
• According to a report, from 300,000 yen earlier, the migrating parents will now receive 1 million yen ($7,600) per child if they move out of the capital.
• Tokyo is the world's largest urban city, with an estimated 38 million people.
• The country already has a similar plan for relocation, which provides 300,000 yen per child and 3 million yen as a one-off support payment for those migrating.
• The earlier plan has, however, been ineffective, as only 2,400 people opted for it in 2021. This amounts to only 0.006 per cent of Tokyo's population.

Demographic Crisis in Japan:

• According to government data, the population of the world’s third-biggest economy suffered a record fall of 644,000 in 2020-21.
• It is expected to plummet from its current 125 million to an estimated 88 million in 2065, a 30% decline in 45 years.
• While the number of over 65 continues to grow, the birth rate remains low at 1.3 children, well below the 2.1 needed to sustain the current population size.
• In 2021, the number of births totalled 811,604, the lowest since records were first kept in 1899. By contrast, the number of centenarians stands at more than 90,500, compared with only 153 in 1963.

Why is Japan offering the package?

• Japan is seeing a rapid change in its demography with a falling birth rate and a high proportion of people above the age of 65 years. Despite several steps taken by the government, the demographic reality has persisted stubbornly.
• In 2017, Japan's National Institute of Population and Social Security Research stated that the number of births in a year will fall below 800,000 by 2030.
• However, the mark was breached in the first nine months of 2022 itself, signaling that the fall is much faster than anticipated.
• Fewer people are being born, and younger people are moving to Tokyo and other metropolitan cities like Osaka, leaving the smaller parts of the country in turmoil.
• Small businesses and shops in smaller towns have difficulty finding customers and workers.
• As per a report, the number of empty homes in Japan, which are unclaimed by heirs, will reach 10 million in 2023. On the other hand, property rates in Tokyo are skyrocketing.
• Despite a slowdown in 2021, the price of a house in Tokyo topped the peak reached during Japan's property bubble in 1989.

Conclusion:

• For many, the monetary incentive may just be the last little push they need. Across the world, the pandemic has led to a reordering of the nature of work, leisure and even a re-assessment of the meaning of a “good life”.
• For long, the people of Japan have been famous for their workaholic ethic. But with Covid, the pressures, pleasures and rush of the city gave way to a life at home, the desire for a break and the company of loved ones.
• It is likely that the Japanese government is trying to capitalise on a ground level shift. It will be interesting to observe if the allure of the city lights persists. As, it is always cheaper to live outside the realm of overpriced real estate.

Source: The Indian Express

Mains Question:

Q. Discuss the problems associated with Urbanisation and measures to tackle them. (150 words)