Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed his government on Wednesday to set aside around 3.5 trillion yen ($26 billion) in the annual budget for child care, Economy Minister Shigeyuki Goto said.
Kishida has vowed to double childcare spending over the next three years and the government has previously estimated that it needed to raise around 3 trillion yen in funds per year to help reverse the country's dwindling birth rate.
