TOKYO >> To curb Japan’s declines in birth rate and population, it’s crucial to overcome the so-called “second child barrier,” the reluctance to have more than one child.

With many couples struggling to balance work and financial commitments with child-rearing, there needs to be a revamping of the country’s work culture to create an environment conducive to securely raising children.

“My child is lovely, but raising one requires more help and resources than we have. Having a second child just isn’t realistic,” said a 33-year-old office worker who is raising her 7-month-old daughter in Kyushu.

Her husband, a 37-year-old office worker, assists with child-rearing but has demanding work hours that start first thing in the morning. The couple’s parents live far away, and after the wife’s mother, who had come to help, returned home a month after the birth, the woman had no one else to turn to.

Solo parenting led to sleepless nights, stress and fatigue, which affected her breast milk production. Three months after giving birth, the wife and her baby moved closer to her parents’ home. Now, she is getting help from her mother and other relatives.

The woman told her husband that the separation would last only during her maternity leave.

But she dreads the thought of returning to solo parenting after her leave ends next spring. She wants to dedicate more time to her child, but if she works a reduced schedule at her current job, her salary will drop to that of a part-timer.

“Considering various factors, including living expenses, education and our savings for life after retirement, I’ll have to manage both a full-time job and parenting,” she said.

She has a sibling and had wanted two children of her own, but now she and her husband have decided to focus on raising just one child.

According to the Japanese National Fertility Survey, conducted in 2021 by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, the fertility rate has been hovering around 1.9 since it first dropped below two in 2010. The rate represents the average number of children a couple has by the end of their fertile life.

Until the early 2000s, nearly 90% of couples had two or more children, but by 2021 that percentage had decreased to about 70%. Young couples, in which wives are under 35 years, cited several reasons for not having the number of children they want: “Child-rearing and education cost too much” (78%), “(I) can no longer endure the burden of child-rearing” (23%) and “It interferes with my job” (21%).

“As the proportion of dual-income households increase, the barrier to having a second child is getting higher. Balancing child-rearing and work is difficult, and only those blessed with vitality, physical strength and financial resources can feel motivated to raise another child,” said Junya Tsutsui, a professor and specialist in family sociology at Ritsumeikan University.

Tsutsui highlights key factors in addressing the second-child barrier, including reducing long work hours, promoting flexible working arrangements such as remote work that are compatible with childcare, and ensuring that reduced hours do not negatively affect income or the progression of a career.

“A society where income and employment are stable, and the future can be planned with more certainty, is also a society where those who are single can feel more positive about marrying and having children,” he said. “We should, as a nation, dedicate efforts to work style reforms as a measure against declining birth rates.”