WHO COLLABORATING CENTER
In the past, population explosion, a rapid population increase, used to be a major international population problem, also relating to poverty. However, recently, fertility decline, associated with population compositional shifts, has brought about population aging, which is now, similar to population explosion, becoming a world-wide problem. Fertility rates have been declining in both developing and developed countries, which is why examining parent-child relationship, teen pregnancy and sexual behavior as well as other reproductive health issues, has become an urgent matter. Population aging, which explicitly occurs as a result of fertility decline, is causing serious economic and social problems not only in developed countries, but also in many developing ones. NUPRI, which has so far produced numerous achievements by advancing international research, is now working together with the WHO to solve such population-related problems we are facing in the 21st century.
NUPRI has publicized many research findings regarding reproductive health based on the “National Survey on Work and Family” (NSWF), conducted in collaboration with the WHO. The NSWF is a longitudinal survey that was implemented jointly with the WHO in 2007 and 2010 on Japanese men and women aged between 20 and 59, as a continuation of the “National Survey on Family Planning” carried out by the Mainichi Newspapers Population Issues Research Committee 26 times, almost every other year, between 1950 and 2004 on female subjects aged between 16 and 49. Later, the survey was awarded a grant for Specially Promoted Research by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology (MEXT) and conducted successively in 2018 and 2020 under the title “National Survey on Family, Births and Work in the Low Fertility Aging Society.” The data collected by this survey are the only data source in Japan that enables a micro analysis of temporal changes in the attitudes towards childbirth, contraception, female labor participation, marriage, family, childrearing and nursing care stretching over 70 years. The survey has been carried out over a period of time that is uniquely long even in international terms with the same sampling framework and based on a questionnaire that has not changed much over time, which is why its contribution to the solving of the world’s population problems has been valued highly and it has been awarded a United Nations Population Award.
At present, NUPRI is conducting joint research with Copenhagen University, which is a world hub for the study of male infertility, and Harvard University. It is also engaged in the dissemination of knowledge through the holding of workshops for Japanese parliamentarians and government officials.