Japan’s population is declining at an alarming rate, with deaths exceeding births by a wide margin
Tokyo:
The number of babies born in Japan fell to a record low in 2023 from the previous year as Japan’s population suffered its largest ever shrinkage, government data showed, Kyodo news agency reported.
According to preliminary data released by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on Tuesday, the number of babies fell by 5.1% to 758,631, Japan News Agency reported.
A country’s birth rate is the ratio of the number of live births to the total population in a given year. Usually expressed as live births per 1,000 people.
The number has been below the 800,000 mark since 2022.
Japan’s population (including foreign residents) fell by 831,872, with more deaths than births.
The Japanese government’s National Institute of Population and Social Security Research predicts that the number of births in the country will fall below 760,000 by 2035.
Kyodo News reported that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government calls the period before 2030 the “last chance” to reverse this trend.
The number of births peaked in 1973 at approximately 2.09 million and fell below 1 million in 2016.
Meanwhile, Japan’s death toll also hit a record 1,590,503, while the number of marriages fell to its lowest level since the end of World War II, at 489,281, according to government data.
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