October 18th, 2017

Japan's fertility rate is among the lowest in the world, at around 1.4 children per woman. The statistic has remained relatively unchanged in the past half century. Though, if you take a look at a graph of Japan's fertility rate over the years, you will notice a bizarre dip in fertility rate for 1966. Why did so many Japanese avoid having children in 1966? An article by sociologist Koya Azumi explains the dip. In Japan, as well as other East Asian countries, each year is associated with both an element and an animal. The cycle repeats every 60 years, and the first year of each cycle is associated with the 'Fire Horse', and referred to as 丙午 (Hinoe Uma). Women born on such a year are thought to be fiery and headstrong: trouble for their husbands. On account of this couples avoided giving birth in 1966, at the risk of having a daughter who would be difficult to marry. The next 丙午 will be in 9 years - in 2026. It will be interesting to see if superstition has waned, or if another dip in fertility rate will appear.

-E