The number of babies born in Japan has dropped to the lowest the country has ever seen since records began 125 years ago, falling ninth straight year despite the government’s efforts to reverse the decline.
Japan recorded 720,988 births in 2024, five per cent down from the previous year, the health ministry said on Thursday.
The year-on-year decline underscores Japan’s long-standing issues of a rapidly ageing and shrinking population, which has serious fallout for the country’s economy and national security.
The country saw a record of 1.6 million deaths last year, causing the population to shrink by almost 900,000 people, including those who immigrated out of Japan.
It means that two people died for every new baby born.
Reacting to the development, prime minister Shigeru Ishiba accepted that the trend of declining births has not been reversed yet.
"We need to be aware the trend of falling births has not been arrested. But the number of marriages posted an increase. Given close ties between the number of marriages and the number of births, we should focus on this aspect as well," he said.
Japan’s demographics have alarmed policymakers and researchers as it is also the fastest ageing country with nearly 30 per cent of population already over 65.
Experts blamed fewer marriages in recent years due to the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic and the decline is set to continue despite improving the marriage rate. Takumi Fujinami, an economist at the Japan Research Institute, told Reuters: "The impact could linger on in 2025 as well”.
The number of marriages edged up 2.2 per cent to 499,999 in 2024, which came only after steep declines, such as a plunge of 12.7 per cent in 2020.
The former prime minister Fumio Kishida's government used measures to boost child-bearing, including expanding childcare facilities, offering housing subsidies, and even launching a government-run dating app to encourage marriage and childbearing.
In more drastic measures the government agencies launched an experimental four-day work week for employees of Tokyo Metropolitan Government, one of the country’s largest employers.
Mr Kishida last year said it was a “now or never situation”.
“Japan is standing on the verge of whether we can continue to function as a society,” he had said. “Focusing attention on policies regarding children and child-rearing is an issue that cannot wait and cannot be postponed.
Japan’s data is in contrast to South Korea’s development of rising fertility rate for the first time in nine years on Wednesday. It was the glimmer of hope for the country which has the world’s lowest birth rate.
Experts believe South Korea's positive turn resulted from government support in the three areas of work-family balance, childcare and housing, as well as a campaign for businesses to nudge employees towards parenthood.
