Tokyo is considering a subsidy for epidural childbirths in the 2025 fiscal year in an attempt to reverse the city’s declining birthrate.
Japan’s birthrate, which is defined as the average number of children per woman, dropped to a record low of 1.20 in 2023. The fall was the most severe in the capital Tokyo, where the birthrate fell below 1 for the first time.
A birthrate of 2.1 is required to keep the population stable in the long run.
To address the problem, Tokyo mayor Yuriko Koike has pledged to subsidise epidural childbirth “as early as possible” to encourage larger families.
Japan desperately needs more children as its population continues to age, and the country’s alarmed leaders have been promising policy after policy to encourage more people to get married and give birth.
If the current birthrate persists, one forecast predicts, Japan will be left with just one child under the age of 14 in about 695 years.
According to the American Pregnancy Association, epidural anaesthesia is a type of regional anaesthesia that targets pain in a specific area of the body. Epidurals work by blocking nerve impulses from the lower spinal segments, reducing sensation in the lower half of the body.
“I have heard many people say that they had their first child and never want to experience the same pain they felt again,” Ms Koike said during her campaign last June.
“In that sense we must protect the mother’s body and at the same time create an economy and support system where women would want to have a second and third child.”
She said the subsidy could help ease the burden of Tokyo residents who wanted to have children but were hesitant for various reasons, while contributing to reversing the city’s declining birthrate.
If it goes ahead, the subsidy will be the first such initiative at the prefecture level in Japan. A budget proposal for the project is expected to be submitted at the metropolitan government assembly which is scheduled to meet next month, The Japan Times reported.
The cost of epidurals in Japan ranges from 100,000 to 200,000 yen (£500 to 1,015).
Japan has one of the lowest rates of births using epidurals among developed nations, at just 8.6 per cent according to a 2020 survey.
According to an August 2023 report in NHK Japan, the country was facing a nationwide shortage of anaesthesiologists, which contributed to the low use of epidurals for pain relief during childbirth.
