Japan's fertility rate hits all-time low – YouTube Dictation Transcript & Vocabulary

1.on Japan's fertility rate has hit and historic low it fell for the eighth straight year last year to just 1.2 that's down from 1.26 in 2022 that is significantly below what is needed to sustain the population cna's Mitch ish explains what this means with fewer babies the outlook for Japan to remain a strong economy is Bleak if the fertility rate continues to fall at the same Pace Japan's population could shrink by 30% by 2070 with seniors aged 65 and up making up close to 40% of its people among the 47 prefectures the fertility rate and the capital city Tokyo is the lowest at just 0.99 according to figures from the health Ministry Chief cabinet secretary yoshima sahashi said the situation was critical and measures have to be taken immed medely he cited the unstable economy and the challenges of balancing work and childbearing as factors that are deterring Japanese from having children adding that the next six years is the last chance to reverse the trend which is projected to accelerate after 2030 on Wednesday the ruling Coalition passed a new law to expand subsidies for children by scrapping the income cap for parents receiving the benefits the government plans to raise medical insurance premiums for the public in order to fund the new measures but media polls suggest that the public is not supportive and that the measures may not have the desired effect in fact there's a risk they might backfire on the kishida cabinet which is already unpopular due to prime minister fio kisha's tax raising is CNA Tokyo