The number of births in Japan has fallen by more than 20% over the past five years, reaching a record low of 727,000 in 2023. Since the 1990s, the pace of births after marriage has been declining. What is distinctive about this is that the number of children of married couples is decreasing. Recently, the prevailing theory is that the main reason young people hesitate to get married and raise children is economic instability. Politics is also beginning to seriously address this issue.
The total birth rate in France in 2020 was 1.79 and in Japan was 1.33, a difference of 0.46. France is attracting attention as a developed country in terms of child-rearing support. The female labor force participation rate in France has reached a record high of 68.1% as of 2022. In Japan, the female labor force participation rate will be 45.1% in 2023. The results show that French women have a higher employment rate than Japanese women. Despite this, the birth rate is higher than in Japan. The trend of French women both raising children and working seems to be made possible by the support of several systems. In the past, many women in France quit their jobs to raise children. The female labor force participation rate drew an M-shaped curve. However, in the 1980s, the M-shaped curve of the labor force participation rate disappeared. Currently, the M-shaped curve has disappeared and it has become a gentle trapezoid. French women continue to work even after giving birth to children. This is a major characteristic of France.
It is obvious that it is difficult to raise many children if you do not have enough money to live. The OECD database compares ① paid work, ② unpaid work, ③ personal care, and ④ leisure. The Japanese have the least time to devote to child care and leisure among the seven major countries. People have an equal total of 8,760 hours in a year, calculated as 24 hours x 365 days. Within that, there are three categories: 8 hours of work time, 8 hours of physiological time, and 8 hours of leisure time. According to this classification, the average working hours per year is 2080 hours with two days off per week. In France, this creates five weeks of paid vacation (40 hours), more than 20 days of compensatory time off, and 2920 hours of leisure time per year. There are women in France who think about this time and use it creatively. Japan should also improve its vacation system, provide free education so that children can grow up in peace, and put in place a system that allows women themselves to advance their careers.
