Japan has one of the oldest population in the world after 40 years of recording low birth rates. That means they have few children in the population, which would then mean that eventually, there will be few working adults that can support the economy and the relatively large portion of elderly citizens born in an era where birth rates are high.
To solve this problem, Japan announced on Monday, December 7, that they plan to boost the funding on artificial intelligence matchmaking to help their citizens find love, which they hope could lead to higher birth rates.
Japanese couple under cherry blossoms.
Japan funds AI matchmaking in hopes to increase their birth rates
According to a report by The Japan Times, Japan is planning to boost its decreasing birth rate using AI for matchmaking. This technology will help Japanese citizens to get matched on their potential romantic partners.
The Japanese government, led by Prime Minister Yoshihide, plans to allocate ¥2 billion ($19 million) in the next fiscal year for this new initiative. The Cabinet Office has said that 50% of Japan's 47 prefectures offering matchmaking services to list the hobbies and interests of a person are now using AI systems.
Typically, human-operated matchmaking services use standardized forms, but with the help of an AI system, it can perform a more advanced analysis of a person's data.
Officials said that they are planning to offer subsidies to local governments operating or starting up matchmaking projects that use artificial intelligence. In doing so, they hope to reverse the decline in their country's declining birth rate.
The BBC reported that Japan's population is projected to fall from 128 million last 2017 to less than 53 million by the end of the 21st century. Last year, their birth rate was at 1.36, one the lowest and far below the birth rate to maintain a population.
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Japan's declining birth rate
Japan has started experiencing a steep drop in its fertility rate shortly after World War II ended until the late 1950s. But it continued to the next decade wherein the birth rate went down by over 50% from the total fertility rate (TFR) of 4.5 children per woman in 1947 to only 2.0 TFR by 1957.
At this level, it has to lead the country to a stable population age structure in size. However, it continued to drop by the mid-1970s, wherein by the year 2000 and up to present their TFR has fluctuated between 1.3 and 1,4 children per woman.
According to the East-West Center, the possible reasons for the decline in birth rate could be due to people's reluctance to marry or have children because of the shrinking employment opportunities for young men. Also, most of the employed young men are only under temporary jobs, which affect their prospects in marriage.
Low birthrates have adverse impacts on the country, leading to an aging population or a population decline. This poses a major headache for policymakers in Japan to ensure a shrinking workforce can support the economy and the relatively large aging population.
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