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Демографическая контрреволюция в послевоенной Японии
Since Japan in the late XIX - early XX centuries showed a very significant population growth, this period is often described as a "demographic revolution". Despite the decline in the birth rate from the mid-1920s., in the pre-war period it remained quite high. In pre-war Japan, an active demographic policy was carried out aimed at increasing the birth rate. In the first post-war years, there was "baby boom", but since the end of the 1940s. the propaganda of lowering birth rate begins. This propaganda was initiated by the Japanese government under the influence of the American occupation administration, which feared pauperization of the population and the growth of communist influence. In the explanatory work among the population, the emphasis was placed on the fact that in modern society the most important criterion is not the number of children, but their "quality", that is, the level of education and health unattainable in a large family. Despite the defeat in the war, the Japanese maintained a high level of trust in the government, and the propaganda proved to be extremely effective. Already at the beginning of the 1950s, the baby boom ceased, and a period of a rapid decline in the birth rate began, which can be described as a "demographic counter-revolution". In 1952, a woman's average fertility (total fertility rate) fell from 4.6 to less than three children. In 1957, the birth rate dropped to the level of simple reproduction and amounted to just over two children. Abortion was the main means of reducing the birth rate. Japan became the first country in the world to allow abortion on "economic grounds." The decline in the birth rate was accompanied by the rapid development of the economy and an increase in life expectancy. History knows no other examples when the "demographic transition" to a society with a low birth rate and low mortality rate would have occurred so rapidly.
