Essay on the history of population policy in Japan--around the concept of population quality
Hirosima, K.
Jinko Mondai Kenkyu 154: 46-61
1980
ISSN/ISBN: 0387-2793 PMID: 12155102 Document Number: 468015
The development of the concept of population quality is found in the history of population policy in prewar Japan. Between 1916 and 1926 the Japanese government was concerned with high death rate and low birth rate. The condition was attributed to the poor health condition of the population, and a committee was organized to investigate public health problems. The committee studied the following: 1) infants and children, 2) tuberculosis, 3) venereal disease, 4) leprosy, 5) psychoses, 6) food, clothing, and housing conditions, 7) rural area hygiene, and 8) vital statistics. The resulting population policy was illustrated by infant/toddler welfare and social welfare works. Between 1927 and 1930 the possibility of overpopulation was discussed in the background of depression. The government organized a committee of investigation pertaining to population and food problems in 1927. The interrelation of high birth rate and high death rate was noted in the report, and it was proposed that the country should maintain natural population increase by adopting a policy of low birth/death rates. The proposal favored the reasonable practice of birth control from the standpoints of public health and eugenics. Thus, the population quality concept was originated in the eugenic aspects of population policy when the nation was faced with the problem of population control in a quantitative sense.