The trends could provide useful insights for a nation troubled by a declining birthrate and rapidly aging population, according to the Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry's white paper, which was approved by the Cabinet on July 29.

In smaller cities such as Yamagata, Toyama and Kochi, there are more working mothers with full-time positions, but their birthrates were higher than the national average.

Birthrates were lower in larger cities where many women were part-timers or worked long hours, the paper says.

In Tokyo and other big cities where more fathers work more than 60 hours per week, the birthrates tended to be low.

In 2004, women gave birth to an average of 1.29 children over their lifetimes, the lowest rate since the government began releasing the number in 1947 and one of the lowest in the world.

The Japan Times Weekly: Aug. 6, 2005
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