Bigger direct payments to people with children and more financial help foreducation and prenatal care are all in the plans, along with promoting flexible working and maternity leave.
Japan's birth rate is at a record low. Photo: AFP
Mr Fumio Kishida said he was proposing "policies to address the unprecedented decline in birthrates" as well as steps to "increase income for the younger generation and the generation raising children".
“We will take these measures to combat the falling birth rate without asking the public to shoulder any additional burden,” he told ministers, experts and business leaders gathered to discuss the issue.
While many developed countries are struggling with low birth rates, the problem is particularly severe in Japan.
Japan has the world's second-highest aging population after Monaco, and relatively strict immigration rules mean the country faces a growing labor shortage.
The country of 125 million people recorded fewer than 800,000 births last year, the lowest since records began, while the cost of caring for the elderly has soared.
At a meeting on Thursday, Kishida said he wanted to budget about 3.5 trillion yen ($25 billion) over the next three years for policies.
Mai Anh (according to AFP, CNA)
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