日本小镇百万日元鼓励妇女生第3胎英语美文

　　How about getting paid 1 million yen for having a baby? To combat a shrinking population, a small town in northern Japan has decided to give a cash award worth about $9,600 to each female resident who has a third child, an official said Friday.

　　To be eligible, the women must have lived in Yamatsuri town for more than a year, town hall spokesman Eiichi Takanobu said.

　　Yamatsuri, where the population has fallen from 7,400 a decade ago to 7,000 this year, is not alone among Japanese towns who are losing people.

　　As the country"s birthrate declines, demographers have predicted Japan"s population will peak at about 127.7 million next year and fall rapidly over the next half-century to about 100 million.

　　The situation is raising concerns about how future generations will support the growing ranks of elderly and how businesses will survive as the labor pool shrinks.

　　To encourage families to have more children, the central government has started building more day-care centers and encouraged men to take paternity leave.

　　It is rare, however, for a town to offer its female residents a large sum for having a baby.

　　Yamatsuri will hand mothers a lump sum of $4,800 within three months after giving birth to a third baby. The women will then be given $480 each year between the child"s second and 11th birthday, Takanobu said.

　　Last year, 50 babies were born in Yamatsuri, up from 40 in 2003, Takanobu said.

　　Japan"s birthrate fell to a record low of 1.29 in 2003 as improved career opportunities give women more options aside from marriage. Many families also put off having children due to the difficulties of finding affordable child care and weak support for working mothers from companies and communities.

　　Japan Town Will Pay Women Who Have 3rd Kid

　　生一个孩子就可以得到100万日元的奖励!?这可不是天方夜谈，而是日本北部一小镇为控制不断下滑的人口出生率而使出的绝招儿。为增加人口出生率日本小镇百万日元鼓励妇女生第3胎。

　　为增加人口出生率日本小镇百万日元鼓励妇女生第3胎。

　　生一个孩子就可以得到100万日元的奖励!?这可不是天方夜谈，而是日本北部一小镇为控制不断下滑的人口出生率而使出的绝招儿。

　　据美联社3月12日报道，为了解决人口数量不断下降的问题，日本福岛县矢祭町(日本的町相当于中国的镇)政府近日决定，凡在当地居住了1年以上的妇女，在产下第3胎后，将获得由政府提供的100万日元(约合9600美元)的奖励。矢祭町人口总数从10年前的7400人下降到现在的7000人，然而，像矢祭町这样的'情况在日本还有很多。

　　人口统计学家预计，日本人口总数将在明年达到最高峰，约1.277亿，而此后的半个世纪里将迅速下降到1亿左右。

　　面对不断下降的人口数量，社会学家担心，日本年轻的一代如何去照顾越来越多的老人，而不断减少的劳动力又如何支持日本经济的持续发展。近年来，为了鼓励家庭多生育小孩，日本政府已开始实施了诸如修建更多的托儿所、允许父亲请假照顾孩子等相关措施。

　　但是，像矢祭町这样用百万日元鼓励妇女多生的事例还实属罕见。报道说，在妇女生育第3胎后的3个月内，矢祭町将一次性奖励其4800美元;此后，在孩子2岁至11岁的10年里，每年支付480美元。2004年，矢祭町的新生儿数量从上年的40个增加到50个。

　　报道说，2003年，日本人口出生率为1.29%，创下历史新低。由于得到了更多的就业机会，当今的日本妇女选择少生甚至不生小孩;同时，许多家庭因为找不到合适的托儿所或是母亲很难从工作单位和社会得到照顾孩子的支持，也推迟了要孩子的时间。

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