Over 50% of Japanese Say Japan is a Favorable Place to Raise Children, Gov't Survey Shows

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According to the results of the International Opinion Survey on a Low Birthrate Society, released on May 19, 2011, by Japan's Cabinet Office, 52.6% of Japanese people responded that their own country is a favorable place to raise children, a 4.9-point increase from the 47.7% in the previous survey.

The survey was conducted to help promote measures to support child-raising by researching and analyzing public attitudes on self-support, marriage, and child-raising as background factors affecting declining birthrates in Japan and other countries. It was carried out for the second time (previous survey in 2005), targeting males and females aged 20 to 49 in five countries -- Japan, South Korea, the United States, and Sweden -- from October to December in 2010, with a sample size of 1,000 per country.

Sweden ranked highest with 97.1% of respondents saying that their country is a favorable country to have and raise children. It was followed by the U.S. (75.5%) and France (72%), while South Korea ranked lowest at 16.2%. The results also showed that Japan (47.5%) and South Korea (43.9%) ranked highest with the number of people saying that they will not or cannot have more children than they have now. On the other hand, there were many people in the U.S. (62.7%), France (61.5%), and Sweden (76.1%) who want to have more children until they reach the number they want.

Also, 50.5% of Japanese respondents said that employment policy is important as a policy encouraging people who want to marry, and this figure was a 15-point increase from the previous survey and the highest among the five countries.

Posted: 2011/10/16 06:00:15 AM