The Asahi Shimbun reported that Tokyo officials are tackling Japan’s declining birth rate with a government-run dating app, which needs users to prove readiness for marriage by answering a series of questions.
A new dating app is being introduced by Tokyo, Japan officials in an effort to encourage marriage and increase the country’s rapidly declining birth rate.
The Tokyo Metropolitan government’s fee-based app will require users to sign a letter indicating their readiness to be married and provide documentation proving they are legally unmarried. In addition, after a required interview with the app’s operator, users will need to provide a tax certificate slip attesting to their yearly income in addition to about fifteen additional pieces of personally identifiable information, such as height, weight, educational background, and occupation.
Thus, Match.com is like a private corporation, except that the government receives all of your personal information.
Tokyo authorities reportedly set aside US$1.9 million for the fiscal year 2024 to encourage marriage through dating apps, and US$1.2 million for the development of dating applications in 2023, according to the Independent.
“If there are many individuals interested in marriage but unable to find a partner, we want to provide support,” a Tokyo official told The Asahi Shimbun.
“We hope that this app, with its association with the government, will provide a sense of security and encourage those who have been hesitant to use traditional apps to take the first step in their search for a partner.”
The software is meant to provide a “gentle push” to about 70% of those who wish to get married but aren’t “actively joining events or apps to look for a partner,” according to AFP.
Falling Birth Rates
We reported in February of 2023 that, compared to the previous year, Japan’s birth rate decreased by 5.1% to 758,631 while the number of weddings plummeted by 5.9% to 489,281, marking the first time in 90 years that the number went below 500,000. Since unmarried births are uncommon in Japan, the last time the population was this low was shortly after the US launched the atomic bomb over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, predicting far larger population reductions.
According to Kyodo News, the decline occurs more than ten years ahead of schedule compared with the government’s prognosis from the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, which predicted that births would fall to less than 760,000 in 2035.
Concurrently, the number of divorces rose to 187,798, up 4,695, while the number of deaths also reached a record, albeit in the opposite direction.
Japan’s population, including foreign residents, decreased by 831,872 as a result, with deaths exceeding births by a record 831,872, more than twice as much as it was only five years before.
People staying single and getting married later in life have been blamed for the sharp drop in the number of babies born. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration has dubbed the years before 2030 “the last chance” to buck the trend; all Japan needs to do is welcome the millions of illegal immigrants who enter the US illegally every month and send them through the southern border, hoping they’ll all turn into devoted Democratic voters.
Reporters were informed by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi that “the declining birthrate is in a critical situation.” “The next six years or so until 2030, when the number of young people will rapidly decline, will be the last chance to reverse the trend.”
Furthermore, this is a problem:
And this:
Recently, GreatGameIndia reported that according to the UN, with longer life expectancy and decreased childhood mortality, the global fertility rate in all countries is likely to begin declining toward the end of the century.
Support GreatGameIndia
