Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Population Growth: Japan

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

14:13 / 31.01.02

What the hell? How is it Japan has managed to keep it's population almost exactly the same size for decades and decades now? Seriously, their population growth is really close to zero. This is really weird when you consider that a nation's best form of birth control is educating and employing women, but Japan was abnormally stable back when it was a nation of stay-at-home wives. And it's downright bizzare when you figure in that the average japanese teenager has a more active sex life than that of an american. What gives? How are they doing this? Do you suppose it's a cultural thing? Or are they just that much smarter than us, to the point where they said "You know, it's pretty damn crowded. Let's not have too many more people than we need, yes?" and actually managed to get the country to do it?

Sleeperservice

19:49 / 31.01.02

Here in the UK, if you take off the immigrant population we're in slight decline as well. The fastest contracting population in the EU, however, is Italy. Whos' dominant religion prescribes the use of no contraception. Go figure.

It could just be evolution limiting the population size. And I don't mean in a 'disaster kills thousands' type of way. It would be much more subtle than that me thinks.

Could be that places like Japan & the UK (& Italy for that matter, it's a stick of land attached to europe by a mountain range after all) which are small islands have reached a sort of natural 'saturation point'. Where as you still have lots of head room in that department.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

20:53 / 31.01.02

Yeah, but this includes immigrants. As a whole country, it's growth remains at zero. I tell you, it's bizzare.

Matthew Fluxington

09:33 / 01.02.02

I can't imagine that there is any significant number of people immigrating to Japan. It's awfully hard to become a citizen...same goes for most any country which isn't the US or Canada...

Molly Shortcake

09:33 / 01.02.02

My father went to Japan a few months ago. I think it's hard for us to imagine how little personal space they have. Let's put it this way, the average Japanese dosen't have the space for a desktop computer. At least we know why those Game Boy advance buttons are so god damn small.

Thjatsi

18:15 / 11.02.02

Most of the population growth in the US is due to immigration as well.

Slim

14:02 / 15.02.02

Japanese women don't have good birthin' hips.

Tom Coates

16:13 / 15.02.02

Isn't it just a cultural thing? That at a certain point individuals in a culture suddenly view the bringing up of children as a responsibility that might compromise their ability to fulfil other goals - get ahead in their careers, have money readily available to spend, buy stuff. I mean, perhaps it isn't an accident that such a densely populated, but also such a CONSUMER orientated culture as Japan is one of the first to hit this threshold.

America is different - America and Africa have nowhere NEAR the density of population of the UK or Europe - let alone Japan. It seems very plausible to me that a country such as America which has (mostly) pretty cheap and large property, incredibly inexpensive food and petrol and loads of space to move around, is almost designed to encourage people to have thousands of children. It becomes easier to afford that one extra kid in the US than it does in the UK...

Thjatsi

17:59 / 15.02.02

Yes, you would get the impression that conditions in the United States would lead to people breeding like rabbits. However, this US Census information clearly shows that the US death rate is higher than the birth rate. In addition, you'll notice that US population growth is mostly due to immigration.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

01:40 / 17.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Tom Coates:
Isn't it just a cultural thing? That at a certain point individuals in a culture suddenly view the bringing up of children as a responsibility that might compromise their ability to fulfil other goals - get ahead in their careers, have money readily available to spend, buy stuff. I mean, perhaps it isn't an accident that such a densely populated, but also such a CONSUMER orientated culture as Japan is one of the first to hit this threshold.

Yeah, but this was the case before they became an big economic force. It started not long after the second world war. I don't know how long Japan has been as crowded as it is now, so I can't say for certain how big a factor the lack of space is.

sleazenation

08:55 / 17.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Flux = Sleeps w/ Electric Guitars:
It's awfully hard to become a citizen...same goes for most any country which isn't the US or Canada...

An interestingly sweeping statement, do you have any proof? [/LIST]

Add Your Reply