Birth rate remains stubbornly low despite series of government initiatives encouraging couples to have bigger families

Japan’s new prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, has given hope to couples struggling to conceive with a pledge to cover expensive fertility treatments with health insurance, but experts warn the change will do little to avert a demographic crisis.

Suga, who took office in September, identified depopulation as a major challenge for Japan during his campaign to succeed Shinzo Abe as PM and repeated his determination to tackle the low birth rate during his first policy speech in parliament.

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