Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday he will raise the nation’s target for the ratio of men taking child care leave to 50% in fiscal 2025, increasing drastically from the current goal of 30%.
He also said he will aim to raise the rate to 85% by fiscal 2030, adding that the bold goals are necessary to reverse the declining birthrate. Those are lofty targets in a country with a famously rigid corporate culture: As of Oct. 1, 2021, the latest data available, the figure was 13.97%.
“We are at a turning point in history and the best way to overcome our challenges is investment in our people,” he told a news conference on Friday, noting that the number of new births has declined by nearly 200,000 over the past five years — to below 800,000 in 2022 for the first time ever.