Keio University Ethics Panel OKs Uterus Transplant Clinical Trial
Keio university said it will consider whether to carry out the research, which would be the first uterine transplant procedure in Japan.
Category: Birth Rate
Births in Japan in 2024 fell to record low of 721,000, deaths increased to record 1,618,684
The number of children born in Japan in 2024 fell from a year earlier to 720,988, marking the ninth consecutive year of record lows, health ministry data showed Thursday. The figure including foreigners, down by 5 percent from the previous year, comes as more people choose to marry later in life and there is increased anxiety over child-rearing due to the higher cost of living. The number of deaths in 2024 increased by 28,181 to a record 1,618,684, and the natural decrease, subtracted from the number of births, stood at a record 897,696, according to preliminary data released by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
Tokyo to Offer Up to 100,000 Yen for Painless Delivery
The Tokyo metropolitan government will provide up to 100,000 yen in subsidies from October to residents of Tokyo who opt for painless deliveries, Governor Yuriko Koike has said. “The Tokyo metropolitan government will lead efforts to realize a society where people can have and raise children without worry,” Koike told reporters on Saturday. It will be the country’s first program to subsidize the cost of painless childbirths at the prefecture level.
Fathers of babies in Japan who die of abuse on day of birth rarely identified
In Japan, 176 babies died on their day of birth due to abuse between 2003 and 2022, but even basic facts such as the ages of their fathers were rarely known, with the blame frequently pinned solely on mothers.
According to statistics from the Children and Families Agency, all 176 babies were born outside of a medical facility, and 161 had their bodies dumped. The place of abandonment was the mother’s home in 79 cases and other places in 82 cases.
Mothers denied postpartum care in 14% of Japan municipalities: survey
About 14.4 percent of municipalities in Japan had cases in which mothers were denied care after giving birth, a survey recently showed, underscoring the country’s need to address the issue as it tries to reverse its declining birthrate.
The rate of rejection for reasons including a shortage of care facilities was even higher in municipalities with a population of 200,000 or more at 43.0 percent, according to the survey commissioned by the government and conducted last fall by Nomura Research Institute.
Barrier Free Japan 