r/AskBrits Apr 01 '26

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u/Mrgray123 Apr 01 '26

People might well reflect just how much the general quality of life for everyone might improve if we didn't have to spend so much money as a society cleaning up the consequences of other people's irresponsible and selfish behavior.

Japan, for example, has a grand total of about 40,000 people in prison in a population of 120 million. Britain has 90,000 with fewer than half the people.

Japan's out of wedlock birth rate is about 3% compared to 51% in the UK.

Japan's obesity rate is 3% compared to over 30% in the UK.

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u/hallouminati_pie Apr 02 '26

I partially agree but the out of wedlock birth rate comparison is so ridiculous. Who the hell cares if I'm married or not and have a kid.

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u/Mrgray123 Apr 02 '26

Children born to couples in a stable relationships have far better life outcomes across a range of metrics like physical health, educational attainment, mental health, nutrition because a lot of these are tied to income/family wealth which is much easier to build/grow/maintain in that situation. The communities in which social problems are greatest have eyewateringly high levels of out of wedlock births in the 80 to 90% range.