Japan vows to boost child allowances to tackle falling birthrate

Japan’s government pledged Friday, in a draft policy package to tackle the rapidly declining birthrate, to remove the income limit for parents to receive child allowances and increase the benefits for families with multiple children.

But the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has still shied away from clarifying to what extent it would hike taxes to fund the budget for such measures, which critics call “pork barrel” policies, in the run-up to a series of local elections in April.

Kishida, who took office in October 2021, has expressed eagerness to bolster spending to fight the decl...