Japan Records 840,000 Births Last Year... Lowest Ever

On the 28th of last month, pedestrians wearing masks are walking through a shopping street in Nagoya, central Japan. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Last year, the number of births in Japan recorded in the 840,000 range, marking the lowest level since statistics began in 1899.

According to a report by Kyodo News on the 4th citing population statistics from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the number of newborns born in Japan last year was 840,832, a decrease of 24,407 compared to the previous year.

Japan's annual number of births has been continuously declining since the high-growth period in 1973, when it recorded 2.09 million. The number fell below one million in 2016, and in 2019 it recorded 860,000, which was referred to as the '860,000 shock.'

The total fertility rate, which is the expected number of children a woman will have in her lifetime, was 1.34 last year, down 0.02 from the previous year.

Recently, due to the impact of COVID-19, the trend of postponing marriage and childbirth has intensified, leading to predictions that the number of births in Japan this year will fall to the 700,000 range. In fact, the number of marriages in Japan last year was 525,490, the lowest since World War II.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.