TOKYO —The number of children in Japan has fallen to a new low, the Internal Affairsand Communications Ministry said Monday. As of April 1, there were an estimated16.17 million children aged 15 and under, down 160,000 from a year earlier.


东京——据内部事务和通讯部于周一表示,日本的儿童数量已降至新低。截止至4月1日, 15岁及15岁以下的孩子估计有1617万,较去年同期减少了160000名。


It wasthe 34th straight annual decline and the lowest level since records began in1950, according to the ministry.


根据内阁部门数据显示，该数据已经连续下降了34年了,今年是自1950年开始记录以来的最低数据水平,。


Theministry released the figures ahead of Children’s Day on Tuesday.


在周二的儿童节之前, 卫生部公布了该数据。


Childrenaccounted for 12.7% of the population, with 8.28 million boys and 7.88 milliongirls, the ministry said.


儿童占总人口的12.7%,其中有828万名男生和788万名女生。


Tokyo wasthe only prefecture to register an increase in the number of children—up by14,000, the ministry said.


内阁部门说，东京是唯一一个注册儿童数量有增加的辖区,增加了14000名。


Of majorcountries with a population of at least 40 million, Japan had the lowest ratioof children to the total population—compared with 19.5% for the United Statesand 16.4% for China.


在至少有4000万人的主要国家中,日本儿童所占比例是最低的，相比之下，美国儿童所占比例为19.5%，中国儿童所占比例为16.4%。






评论

SpeedMay.05, 2015 - 06:49AM JST

Not muchhelp coming from the govt. even though lots of talk about improving thesituation.

There'sno way we can afford a third a kid even if we wanted one.


虽然有过很多关于改善情况的讨论，但政府实际并未给予多少帮助。

我们是无法负担得起第三个孩子的,即使我们很想再要一个。




movieguyMay.05, 2015 - 07:04AM JST

Stopallowing corporations/organizations to treat people like robots and give peopletime off to enjoy life and that would be a start.

Why wouldI want to have children when I'd never be home to see/raise them? My wife and Idon't have enough time for each other as it is now and the government wants usto have kids to take away more time? Yeah, right!


不要再让公司/组织机构像对待机器人一样对待人民了，给人民多一点时间去享受生活,那将是一个新开始。

如果我都没时间在家看着/抚养他们的话，那我为什么会想要孩子?现在这种状态下，我妻子和我花在对方的时间都已经不够了,政府希望我们有个孩子，然后带走更多的时间是吗?是啊,没错!




Gerardvan SchipMay. 05, 2015 - 07:08AM JST

We wouldlove more kids but are struggling to survive on our income.


我们也希望有更多的孩子,但却只能为了生存苦苦挣扎创收入




CrazyJoeMay.05, 2015 - 07:14AM JST

Manypeople want better child-care facilities and other government policies thatwill encourage couples to raise children.


许多人都想要更好的托儿设施，而其他的政府政策就会鼓励夫妇自行抚养孩子。




MizuameMay.05, 2015 - 07:30AM JST

The"Trainee Program" should be converted to an immigration program.There is clearly lots of work available for these people, and already greatpressure to increase the numbers. If they are allowed to immigrate and bringspouses they will soon raise the birth rate.


“实习生项目”应该转变成移民项目。对这些人来说，这里显然有很多的工作,而且在增加该数据方面已经有巨大的压力了。如果他们可以移民过来,还可以把配偶带过来，那么出生率将会很快得到提高。




commanteerMay.05, 2015 - 07:34AM JST

Thegovernment is focused on *** life comfortable for the older Japanese whohave run the country into the ground. Younger people are just here to work forpeanuts and pay for the comfort of old folks. Children distract from that primeconcern. Sad but true.


政府的重点是使那些曾管理过国家的老年人生活更舒适。年轻人在这里要做的就是为供养老人和购买食物不停地工作。孩子转移了主要注意力。很悲伤但是是真实的。




RezaRahmanMay. 05, 2015 - 07:39AM JST

While thecorporate overlords seek servants not employees nothing is going to changeanytime soon. I do wonder if it is too late to fix the child ratio. To boostmore would require a big change in mindset in both corporate and private life.As more people get use to the "freedoms" being child free entails Isuspect less people would willingness to have children. Changing the subjectslightly how does China ,a country with one child policy, have a higher childpercentage than Japan. Maybe it's to do with the life expectancy in China.


企业霸主还是在招募仆人而不是员工，所以这种状态不会很快改变。我想知道解决这个儿童比例问题是否已经为时已晚。想要增加更多的人口，那么企业和个人的生活理念都需要有一个巨大的变化。在大多数人都已经习惯了没有孩子的自由状态下，我想没有几个人会想要孩子。转变一下话题，来看看中国是如何做到,在一个实行计划生育政策的国家,儿童比例竟然还能高于日本。也许是与中国的人生寿命有关吧。




sensei258May.05, 2015 - 07:40AM JST

Thisproblem is more serious than you may think. Less children means a smallerworkforce in the future, which has repercussions of its own. Smaller workforcealso means less people paying taxes to support those who are older and orretired, and fewer people to care for the increasing aged population.


这个问题可能比你想象的更严重。孩子越少意味着未来的劳动力越少,然后又相互影响。越少的劳动力也意味着会有更少的人纳税，以支持那些年长了的或退休了的人,也就有了更少的人来照顾不断增长的老年人口。




JoshuaDegreiffMay. 05, 2015 - 07:46AM JST

This is aan important issue I have to address how many times Japan Today has torecycling post about Japan Childreen birth rate fall.


我必须提出的一个重要问题是：《今日日本》已经循环刊登了多少次关于儿童出生率下降的报道了啊。




M3M3M3May.05, 2015 - 07:59AM JST

A newrecord low will be set every year from now on. The last Japanese child i***pected to be born in the year 3011.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2143748/Falling-birth-rates-mean-Japan-wont-children-15-3011-current-trend-continues.html


从现在开始每年都会记录一个历史新低。日本最后一个孩子预计将在3011年出生。

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2143748/Falling-birth-rates-mean-Japan-wont-children-15-3011-current-trend-continues.html




YubaruMay.05, 2015 - 08:02AM JST

Tokyowas the only prefecture to register an increase in the number of children—up by14,000, the ministry said.

Put thisparagraph all by it's lonesome to make a point about what? Give props whereprops are due Fukuoka and Okinawa are unchanged and Okinawa has the highestratio of the population being "children" at 17.5%

Tokyo isjust a megalopolis and that is one place that does not need any more people letalone kids, and how much does anyone want to bet that the increase is due tofolks moving to Tokyo from somewhere else too.



内阁部门说，东京是唯一一个注册儿童数量有增加的辖区,增加了14000名。

把这段孤孤单单地放在那里究竟是什么意思？福冈和冲绳的儿童比例没变，冲绳的儿童人口比例最高，达到了17.5%。

东京是一个大都市,是一个人口已经够多了的地方,，更不用说需要更多的孩子了。有没有人想打赌，这一地区儿童的增加是人们从其他地方搬入东京的结果。




SchopenhauerMay.05, 2015 - 08:08AM JST

The otherday, I talked with a lady who came to Japan from Thailand decades ago marryingto a Japanese gentleman. She works as a cleaning lady of our danchi. I askedher which country is easier to live - Japan or Thailand? She asnwered Thailand.She said in Japan if people don't have money, they cannot continue living fromtomorrow. Life is hard here. The Japanese government knowing about decliningpopulation did not take effective measures for long. In my danchi, I know someyoung couples who have three to four children. They are living in a small 2DKrooms. Yet, they have to pay 65,000 yen per month from their small income. Theyalways have troubles with the people living directly under their rooms becauseof noises children make. I always think if the government thinks seriouslyabout the declining population, they should encourage the danchi to give twohouses to people like them removing walls of the next house. The rent should bethe same or free, of course.


有一天,我遇到了一个几十年前因嫁给一个日本绅士来到日本的泰国女士。她是我们団地的清洁女工。我问她哪个国家更容易生活——日本还是泰国?她说泰国。她说在日本如果人们没有钱,那他们明天就不能继续生活。这里的生活很艰难。日本政府虽然知道人口在下降但并没有采取长期有效措施。在団地，我认识的一些年轻夫妇，有三到四个孩子。他们生活在一个小型的2式1厅的房间里。然而,他们必须为此支付他们每月微薄收入中的65000日元。他们总是很难与生活在他们楼下的人相处融洽，,因为孩子们总是制造出太多噪音。我总是认为如果政府很严肃地考虑过人口下降的问题,那他们应该鼓励団地给这些人提供两套房子，而且把两套房子中的墙壁拆掉，变成一个大套房。当然了，房租应该维持不变，或是免费。




DavidMuñozMay. 05, 2015 - 08:13AM JST

I loveJapan but one big flaw that I encountered there is that people put way way tomuch attention in work, work is important, but it's not healthy to put work asthe no 1 priority in your, life, if you ask me, the no 1 priority is family,family comes first, you live your live to be happy, you work to support you***mily and yourself, you don't live to work.


我喜欢日本但是我觉得那里的一大缺陷就是,人们太过关注工作,工作固然重要,但把工作放在生活中的第一位是不健康的,如果你问我,那第一要务肯定是家庭,家庭是第一位的,你之所以活着是为了幸福生活,你之所以工作是为了供养你的家人和你自己,你不是为了工作而活。




powderbMay.05, 2015 - 08:14AM JST

My wifeand I, happily married for a decade and both 40 (about), have after a long timeperiod of thought, firmly decided not to have children. Again, very happy withthis decision.

The cost,the institutional lack of proper day care and lengthy maternity leave, theschool system which would dominate family life are the biggest factors for her.My biggest concern is whatever she feels the need to do, thus, no kids.


我和我妻子的幸福婚姻已经十年了,现在我们都40(大约)了,经过很长一段时间的思考后,我们决定不生孩子。再次,对这个决定感到非常高兴。

所需要的费用，公共机构中又没有合适的日托，也没有长时间的产假,而且之后学校系统将成为主宰她的家庭生活的最大因素。我最关心的是她需要什么,所以,不要孩子。




Moon1May.05, 2015 - 08:17AM JST

Not muchhelp coming from the govt. even though lots of talk about improving thesituation

How is itthe governments fault if young people won't have kids - wasn't a problem in the70's.

The"Trainee Program" should be converted to an immigration program

Immigrationis not the answer, once that door is open you can't close it - look at how theUK is now, its a mess


虽然有过很多关于改善情况的讨论，但政府实际并未给予多少帮助。

如果年轻人不想要孩子，这怎么就成了政府的错了。在70年代是没有出现过这种问题的。

“实习生项目”应该转变成移民项目。

移民并不是解决方式，一旦打开了这个门就再也关不上了——看看美国的现状就知道了，简直是一团糟。




danalawton1@yahoo.comMay.05, 2015 - 08:27AM JST

13% ofJapan's population is 15 and under. With deficits still increasing who's goingto pay the bills in the future.


日本人口中的13%都是15岁及15岁以下的。财政赤字不断在增长，未来将由谁来支付账单。




AliKhanMay. 05, 2015 - 08:49AM JST

on theother hand abe sending women to the work field to cope with shortage of labour


另一方面，为应对劳动力短缺，安倍将妇女送上工作领域。