ELI5; Why japan’s population is decreasing
In: 14
For thousands of years, women started having babies around 14-16 and had 5+ children each. Some had 20 kids. Infant mortality was high. Sons were an asset that could help on your farm.
Starting around 1800, people are moving to cities, working in factories. Quality of life is terrible but rapidly improving.
* Kids are expensive, and you don’t have a farm anymore.
* More reliable birth control becomes widely available.
* Women get more and more education, delaying their first child, eventually into their late 20’s or early 30’s. In 100 years you now have (25+25+25+25) 4 generations instead of (15+15+15+15+15+15) 6 generations.
* Women get more property rights, voting rights, power and money. They can survive OK without getting married or if they get divorced. (So many wives are abused, divorce is a very good thing.)
* Social expectations changed. We (thankfully, in most cases) stopped viewing women as free labor and baby factories.
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