The government is pushing improvement of child-care services and in doing so it aims to stem the decline in birthrate. It anticipates that the number of children aged 5 or younger who would use such services will increase by about 1 million to about 3 million in 10 years.
Plans include increasing the number of child-care facilities and giving more support to nurseries set up by child-care workers in their own homes. The number of children's halls (jido-kan) that will take care of elementary-school children after school until their parents return from work will also be increased.
The shortage of child-care services is one factor contributing to the declining population of children. To help achieve a higher birthrate, cooperation from communities and enterprises will be indispensable.