Rapidly Evolving Asian Population Challenges
The first UN Asian Population Conference was held in New Delhi back in 1963. At the time, the drastic reduction in mortality was perceived by all the member countries. In 1972, when the Second Conference was held in Tokyo, everyone talked about the need for family planning to lower fertility. Then, the focus shifted to urbanization and migration (in 1983 Colombo), women’s rights and sustainable development (in 1992 Bali), the disputes on reproductive health and rights (in 2002 Bangkok), and population ageing (in 2013 Bangkok). Two months ago, in November 2023, the 7th Asian and Pacific Population Conference was held at UNESCAP in Bangkok, and this time, many countries started to deplore the lowering of fertility.
The low fertility in South Korea is extreme, with the total fertility rate at 0.78 in 2022, and further down to 0.70 in the third quarter of 2023. Hong Kong is in a similar situation. TFR is around 1 in Singapore and Taiwan, but even in the People’s Republic of China and Thailand. Japan used to have a rising fertility from 2005, but again it started to decline from 2015, to the historically lowest 1.26 in 2022. The most surprising drop was that of the Philippines, from 2.7 in 2017 to 1.9 in 2022. Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and India are all around the replacement level, and further west, Iran’s TFR was 1.72 in 2019.
The lowering of fertility is a reality we cannot escape. Better education of women and career opportunities delay marriage, and by the time they are ready to have a baby, they reach the age when it is not easy to conceive. 39.2% of married women were worried about infertility in Japan in 2021. The unmet need in the past was for contraceptive use, but now it is for infertility care and treatment. In addition, we should reorganize society so that qualified women and men can maintain a good work-life balance. Now that low fertility is spreading in Asia, a region-wide approach is needed.
