Japan newlyweds can receive up to 600,000 yen to start new life

为鼓励结婚生育，日本将为新婚夫妇发放最高60万日元补贴

Newly married couples can receive up to 600,000 yen to cover their rent and other costs to start a new life from next April if they live in a municipality adopting Japan's newlywed support program, government sources said Sunday.

日本政府消息人士9月20日透露，居住在实施新婚补助计划的市町村的新婚夫妇，从2021年4月起可以获得最高60万日元（约合人民币3.9万元）的补贴来开启新生活，用以支付房租和其他费用。

As the nation's ultralow birth rate is attributed mainly to the tendency that people marry late or stay unmarried, the government will try to boost marriages by enhancing the program to provide a larger sum and cover more couples, said the sources at the Cabinet Office.

日本内阁府的消息称，由于日本的超低出生率主要被归结于人们晚婚或不婚，政府将尝试通过该项目来为更多新婚夫妇提供更大数额的补助金，从而提高结婚率。

To be eligible, both husband and wife will have to be under age 40 as of the registered date of marriage and have a combined income of less than 5.4 million yen, up from age 35 and 4.8 million yen under the current conditions for aid of up to 300,000 yen.

申请人需满足以下条件：夫妻双方在登记结婚之日须未满40岁，且家庭收入低于540万日元（约合人民币35万元）。新规较目前的新婚补助条件有所放宽，当前这两项条件分别为登记结婚当日须未满35岁，家庭收入低于480万日元，补助金额则为最高30万日元。

Only 281 municipalities, or 15 percent of all cities, towns and villages in Japan, had adopted the program as of July as they must shoulder half the expenses, but in a bid to increase the number, the central government will bear two-thirds from fiscal 2021, the sources said.

消息人士称，截至7月，日本国内实施该项目的有281个市町村，仅占所有市町村的15%左右，因为当地政府须承担一半的费用。消息人士称，为了提升该政策的覆盖率，中央政府将从2021财年起承担三分之二的费用。

The program is part of government efforts to address the low birth rate as married couples tend to have two children, even though the average number of children a woman will bear in her lifetime was 1.36 last year with a record-low 865,000 babies born.

此项计划是日本政府为解决低出生率问题而推出的举措之一，因为已婚夫妇通常都会生育两个小孩，而去年出生的新生儿数量只有86.5万，每名妇女一生平均生育1.36个小孩，创下历史新低。

An economic incentive is deemed effective to encourage people to marry since 29.1 percent of single men aged 25 to 34 and 17.8 percent of single women cited lack of marriage funds as a reason they stayed unmarried in a 2015 survey by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.

经济激励被视为鼓励人们结婚的有效措施，因为国立社会保障和人口问题研究所2015年的一项调查显示，29.1%的25岁至34岁的单身男性和17.8%的单身女性将缺少结婚资金作为不婚的理由。