Japan Introduces Four-Day Workweek to Combat Population Decline and Encourage Family Growth

To address its ongoing population decline, Japan plans to introduce a four-day workweek for over 160,000 government employees starting in April. The initiative aims to alleviate the country’s rigid work culture and make it easier for women to balance career and family life. Japan, facing its 16th consecutive year of population decrease and the world's highest elderly-to-young population ratio, has struggled to boost its birth rate despite offering tax breaks, expanding daycare, and even launching a dating app. The nation is projected to have fewer than 700,000 births this year, the lowest since records began in 1899, while its birth rate remains far below the replacement level of 2.1.

The neighboring South Korea is paying men to reverse their vasectomies and plans to spend $322 million to address its loneliness epidemic. Its fertility rate was 0.72 last year, the lowest in the world.