Japan’s parliament on Wednesday passed a law aimed at strengthening measures to tackle the country’s declining birth rate.
To secure the necessary resources for the extensive measures, such as abolishing the income limit on child benefits, the government will collect ‘support funds’ from the general public in the form of additional costs on top of health insurance premiums.
The bill to amend the related laws was approved by majority vote, with mainly support from the ruling camp, at a plenary meeting of the House of Councilors, after being passed by the House of Representatives in April.
