TOKYO (AP) — According to data from the health ministry released Thursday, the number of babies born in Japan last year declined for a ninth consecutive year to a record low.
The faster-than-predicted drop indicates that government measures have not successfully tackled the country’s rapidly aging and declining population.
The 720,998 babies born in Japan in 2024 was a drop of 5 per cent on the previous year, according to the Health and Welfare Ministry. It was the lowest number of births since Japan started taking the statistics in 1899.
“We believe the declining births has not been effectively controlled,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters, adding the government will steadily pursue expanded childcare programs and subsidies for childrearing households, while promoting salary increase and support for matchmaking efforts.
The result, which includes babies of foreign nationality born in Japan, is 15 years ahead of the forecast for reaching that level. The birth rate for just Japanese nationals is expected to fall below 700,000 for the first time when it is published later this year.
The outcome arrives right as South Korea announced that the birth rate in the nation increased for the first time in nine years in 2024, a change partially linked to more marriages among couples who postponed their weddings due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Japanese survey Thursday also noted that the number of marriages last year was 499,999, an increase of 2.2 per cent in 2023 when a 90-year low was recorded.
Experts assert that enhancing prospects for the economy, employment and gender equality is essential to motivate young people to wed and have children.
Surveys indicate that a significant number of younger Japanese hesitate to marry or start families, deterred by grim employment opportunities, the escalating cost of living outpacing salary increases, and corporate environments that are not conducive to dual-income households.
Japan’s population is projected to fall by about 30 per cent, to 87 million by 2070, when four out of every 10 people will be 65 or older.
