Japan is poised to significantly overhaul its approach to childbirth costs as part of a sweeping initiative to tackle its declining birth rate.
A government panel has recommended making childbirth free, a move the health ministry says could take effect as early as April 2026.
Newsweek has contacted the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare for comment via email.
Why It Matters
The policy reflects growing alarm in Japan over the consequences of a shrinking and aging population. With fewer young people entering the workforce and a growing elderly demographic, economic and social pressures are mounting.
Last year, 720,988 babies were born in the country, marking the ninth consecutive year of decline in births. Japan’s birth rate has fallen to unprecedented lows since records began 125 years ago.
About 30 percent of the Japanese population is now 65 or older, compounding the demographic challenge and dragging on Asia’s second-largest economy as it pulls itself out of a decades-long slump.
A stock image of a mother holding her baby after giving birth at a hospital in Japan.
A stock image of a mother holding her baby after giving birth at a hospital in Japan.
Uncredited/Kyodo via AP
What To Know
The proposed policy shift comes amid ongoing efforts by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration to address Japan’s demographic crisis.
Under the plan, childbirth-related medical expenses, currently paid by families and only partially offset by a lump-sum allowance, would be fully covered by public health insurance. Only cesarean sections are currently covered as an exemption by health insurers.
The government presently provides 500,000 yen ($3,400) for each birth in Japan. However, delivery costs have been increasing and now exceed that amount.
The money given by the government for birth costs does not cover the full sum in about 45 percent of cases, The Japan Times reported, citing data collected from May 2023 to September 2024. So families often pay out of pocket for additional hospital fees and nonmedical services.
The average cost nationwide for a normal childbirth in the first half of the 2024 fiscal year was about 518,000 yen, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare reported. This was up from about 417,000 yen in 2012.
The expert panel advised that the Health Ministry should cover the full cost of childbirth and that a unified price should be set nationwide.
What People Are Saying
Christina L. Davis, a professor of Japanese Politics at Harvard University, told Newsweek: “There are many obstacles facing families in Japan that include health care and education costs, but these are comparable to levels in many other advanced industrial societies in North America and Europe. The very low birthrates in Japan reflect broader societal conditions related to labor markets and norms of motherhood that will require a more comprehensive set of reforms.”
What Happens Next
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is expected to present a draft plan later this year, outlining the budgetary and logistical requirements for full childbirth coverage. If approved, the plan will be included in the fiscal 2026 national budget.
AloJapan.com