The sun is setting on Japan. For the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, I’m John Stonestreet with The Point.

Having kids is so important, not having them might have national consequences.

Japan is Exhibit A. Business Insider reports that the nation, once an ascendant military power and then technology mecca, has entered “a vicious cycle of low fertility and low spending that has led to trillions in lost GDP and a population decline of 1 million people, all within just the past five years.”

If things continue, say sociologists, Japan faces recession and “a breakdown in the fabric of social life.”

Mary Brinton at Harvard calls that country’s emphasis on career over childbearing “death to the family.” Below-replacement-rate fertility creates an aging population, which strains government entitlements, and forces young people to work longer hours for ever lower pay to support aging parents and grandparents.

Humans are mortal. We die. If a society as a whole doesn’t recognize the need to “be fruitful and multiply,” life becomes hard for everyone. Children, it turns out, really are a blessing.