Starting in april 2023, the government of Japan will pay one million yen (over 40 thousand reais) per child to families moving away from Tokyo, the country’s capital, to smaller cities inland.

The Japanese government currently pays 300,000 yen (11,700 reais) to encourage Tokyo residents to move, as well as one million yen for moving costs so families can organize the transition to another city.

The new measure aims to prevent further aging of the population, which is happening increasingly faster in areas far from the capital. In recent years, the country has faced a drop in birth rates (number of live births per thousand people in a given geographical area) and a rise in life expectancy.

How Does It Work?

The overcrowding in Tokyo, especially of young people who are looking for job opportunities in the metropolis, has led to depopulation and population aging in other cities in Japan. With less inhabitants, the economy in those places has also slowed down. For this reason, the government aid seeks to decentralize the population from Tokyo and take younger people to areas further away from the capital.

However, to receive the financial aid, it is necessary to comply with a series of rules – which ends up turning people away from the initiative. For example: the family that receives the aid must remain in the new location for five years and at least one family member has to be working or planning to open a business there.

If families move again before the end of the five-year period, all the funds received through the project must be returned. Because of this, according to the Japanese government, only 2,400 people have signed up for the incentive so far. This represents only 0.006% of Tokyo’s population.

Sources: BBC Brazil, G1, and O Globo

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