Relationship between family policies and fertility changes in Japanese municipalities

Japan has been implementing family policies to restore fertility. Its municipalities provide residents with family policies under a government-created system. However, many municipalities offer additional family policies that often differ between municipalities. This study explored the relationship...

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Main Authors: Shigeki Matsuda, Kenji Kamata
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-01-01
Series:Social Sciences and Humanities Open
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291125005972
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author Shigeki Matsuda
Kenji Kamata
author_facet Shigeki Matsuda
Kenji Kamata
author_sort Shigeki Matsuda
collection DOAJ
description Japan has been implementing family policies to restore fertility. Its municipalities provide residents with family policies under a government-created system. However, many municipalities offer additional family policies that often differ between municipalities. This study explored the relationship between family policies by municipalities and fertility rate changes from the mid-2000s to mid-2010s. The data used were from a sample survey conducted for municipalities, combined with regional data divided by municipality (N = 568). The data were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. In municipalities with relatively large populations, the higher the number of implemented measures, the higher the fertility rate change. This relationship was observed for approximately 5–10 years after the implementation of the family policy. These results suggest that implementing various measures by Japanese municipalities to support different types of families may have contributed to the increase in total fertility rate, and that it took some time for the family policies to affect total fertility rate.
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publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Social Sciences and Humanities Open
spelling doaj-art-8a5c77b0a6b7408fb37785826cf9ce412025-08-20T03:39:05ZengElsevierSocial Sciences and Humanities Open2590-29112025-01-011210186910.1016/j.ssaho.2025.101869Relationship between family policies and fertility changes in Japanese municipalitiesShigeki Matsuda0Kenji Kamata1School of Contemporary Sociology, Chukyo University, 101, Tokodachi Kaizu-cho, Toyota-shi, Aichi, 470-0393, Japan; Corresponding author.School of Political Science and Economics, Meiji University, 1-1 Kanda-Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, JapanJapan has been implementing family policies to restore fertility. Its municipalities provide residents with family policies under a government-created system. However, many municipalities offer additional family policies that often differ between municipalities. This study explored the relationship between family policies by municipalities and fertility rate changes from the mid-2000s to mid-2010s. The data used were from a sample survey conducted for municipalities, combined with regional data divided by municipality (N = 568). The data were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. In municipalities with relatively large populations, the higher the number of implemented measures, the higher the fertility rate change. This relationship was observed for approximately 5–10 years after the implementation of the family policy. These results suggest that implementing various measures by Japanese municipalities to support different types of families may have contributed to the increase in total fertility rate, and that it took some time for the family policies to affect total fertility rate.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291125005972Low fertilityFamily policyTotal fertility rate
spellingShingle Shigeki Matsuda
Kenji Kamata
Relationship between family policies and fertility changes in Japanese municipalities
Social Sciences and Humanities Open
Low fertility
Family policy
Total fertility rate
title Relationship between family policies and fertility changes in Japanese municipalities
title_full Relationship between family policies and fertility changes in Japanese municipalities
title_fullStr Relationship between family policies and fertility changes in Japanese municipalities
title_full_unstemmed Relationship between family policies and fertility changes in Japanese municipalities
title_short Relationship between family policies and fertility changes in Japanese municipalities
title_sort relationship between family policies and fertility changes in japanese municipalities
topic Low fertility
Family policy
Total fertility rate
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590291125005972
work_keys_str_mv AT shigekimatsuda relationshipbetweenfamilypoliciesandfertilitychangesinjapanesemunicipalities
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