Get 1 million Yen per child by leaving Tokyo: Japan's scheme to reverse population decline

Tokyo, Jan 04: In an attempt to move out the population from the capital Tokyo to rural places, Japan is offering its citizens 1 million Yen (Rs 6.36 lakh) per child if they relocate to rural areas.

From 300,000 relocation fee, the government has revised the amount to 1 million Yen which will come to effect from April 2023.

As per the scheme, a household will receive 3 million yen for leaving Tokyo city. Even though population in the capital witnessed a drop (partly due to Covid-19 pandemic), the government belives that enough needs to be done to bring down population density and to encourage people to begin their lives in other parts of the country which have been affected by issues such as ageing, shrinking populations and youngsters migrating to big cities like Tokyo and Osaka, as per a report.

The policy makers are hoping that 10,000 people might have left Tokyo to rural areas by 2027. In 2021, 1,184 families moved out of Tokyo, 290 in 2020 and 71 in 2019.

Criteria to be Eligible for this Scheme

People who want to relocate has to meet one of the three criteria - work at a small or midsize company in the area or continue to work in the old jobs via work-from-home or start a new business in their new home.

According to news agency Kyodo, the central government and local municipalities will contribute 50 per cent each for the people who relocate to rural areas. The government is hoping 10,000 people will have moved from Tokyo to rural areas by 2027, it added.

Japan, the world's third-biggest economy, introduced the scheme three years ago after the population witnessed a record fall of 644,000 in 2020-21, according to government data. By 2065, it is likely to drop by 30 per cent.

The overall fertility rate -- the average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime -- slid for a sixth straight year, to 1.3 in 2021. There were 811,604 births in 2021, the fewest in health ministry data going back to 1899. Deaths climbed to 1,439,809, leading to an overall drop of 628,205 in the population, according to Reuters.