Top > What's up around the Prime Minister > December, 2004

The Third Meeting of the Council on Measures for Society with Decreasing Birthrate Friday, December 24, 2004 The Third Meeting of the Council on Measures for Society with Decreasing Birthrate was held at the Prime Minister's Official Residence. The meeting compiled a concrete action plan of priority measures based on the "Outline of Measures for Society with Decreasing Birthrate." This action plan identifies the content and goals of concrete measures that will be implemented in the next five years according to the priority issues stated in the "Outline of Measures for Society with Decreasing Birthrate." In addition, it describes the "ideal society that Japan should aspire to become" looking into the next 10 or so years in order to illustrate how Japan is making the transition into a "society where children grow up in good health" and a "society where people can feel the joy of giving birth and raising children." This action plan also states that concrete measures will be implemented in a prioritized manner to this end in the next five years. At the end of the meeting, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said, "The birthrate has been declining for the past 30 years in Japan. Although the average life expectancy is rising, Japan is expected to enter a period of a decreasing population in 2007. The rapidly declining birthrate and the decreasing vitality provided by young people in the overall society is an issue that will have a grave impact on the nation's foundation, including sustainable economic growth and maintaining social security. In order to stop the birthrate from declining even more, it is important to steadily implement this plan and for the government as one to make utmost efforts in advancing measures to tackle the declining birthrate."