Abstract
Japanese birth rate is declining during these twenty years, causing to discussion on measures for it. In liberal and democratic countries as Japan and Western countries the so-called population policy which means direct pronatalistic measures is not appropriate and is not accepted by the general public. In such countries indirect policy measures which provide favorable conditions for child bearing and rearing to the general public are appropriate. In recent years such indirect policy measures to support parents and their children are discussed in publications by the governmental organizations, for example, White Paper on Welfare by Ministry of Health and Welfare and White Paper on National Life by Economic Planning Agency. In this paper, the author presents his idea on the concept of population policy, emphasizing the importance of indirect measures. As an example the child allowance system in Japan is explained and evaluated by comparing with those in Western countries.
