The Japan News by The Yomiuri Shimbun
Lovenomics
Hoping to bring about more babies, Japan boosts support for newlyweds
The government plans to double the maximum amount of financial assistance to newlyweds from ¥ 300,000 to ¥ 600,000 starting next fiscal year as part of efforts to improve the child- rearing environment.
Couples who live in municipalities running a project to support newlyweds and who register their marriages in those municipalities will be eligible for the assistance if husband and wife are both aged 39 or younger at the time of their marriage and have a combined annual household income of less than ¥5.4 million.
The subsidy is meant to help pay for such expenses as buying a house, paying rent or moving. The Cabinet Office has earmarked ¥2 billion in its budget request for the subsidy for next fiscal year.
Currently, the age limit for the support is 34 or younger and the total annual income threshold is less than ¥ 3.4 million ( or an annual household income of less than ¥4.8 million). The government is widening the eligibility requirements because people are getting married later.
Under the current system, the central government and municipalities each shoulder half of the subsidy.
As of July 10, a total of 281 cities, towns and villages, including Chiba, Kobe and Wakayama, were running the newlywed support project.
Tokyo, Fukui, Yamanashi and Hiroshima prefectures have no municipalities involved in the project.
The government believes that the burden of covering 50% of the subsidy has prevented the project from spreading. To avoid increasing the burden on municipalities, the government plans to raise the portion of its contribution to two-thirds, in line with the expansion of the amount of the subsidy.
Births in 2019 dropped to a record low of 865,234. There are concerns that this will accelerate further as people put off having children amid the novel coronavirus pandemic and the worsening employment situation.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga included measures to address the chronically low birth rate in the list of his government’s basic policies, aiming to have fertility treatments covered by health insurance. As it will take time to achieve this, Suga’s administration will work on expanding the current subsidy system.
The prime minister also aims to expand childcare services, to reduce to zero the waiting lists of children to be accepted by nursery schools.