TOKYO (AP) — The number of newborns in Japan is decreasing faster than projected, with the number of annual births falling to a record low last year, according to government data released Wednesday.
The Health Ministry said 686,061 babies were born in Japan in 2024, a drop of 5.7% on the previous year and the first time the number of newborns had fallen below 700,000 since records began in 1899.
The decline comes about 15 years faster than the government prediction. Last year’s figure is about one-quarter of the peak of 2.7 million births in 1949 during the postwar baby boom.
The data in a country of rapidly aging and shrinking population adds to concern about the sustainability of the economy and national security at a time it seeks to increase defense spending.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has described the situation as “a silent emergency” and has promised to promote more flexible working environment and other measures that would help married couples to balance work and parenting, especially in rural areas where family values tend to be more conservative and harder on women.
The Health Ministry’s latest data showed that Japan’s fertility rate — the average number of babies a woman is expected to have in her lifetime — also fell to a new low of 1.15 in 2024, from 1.2 a year earlier. The number of marriage was slightly up, to 485,063 couples, but the downtrend since the 1970s remains unchanged.
Experts say the government measures have not addressed a growing number of young people reluctant to marry, while focusing largely on couples already married and plan to have or already had children.
The younger generation are increasingly reluctant to marry or have children due to bleak job prospects, a high cost of living and a gender-biased corporate culture that adds extra burden only on women and working mothers, experts say.
A growing number of women also cite pressure to change their surnames to that of their husband as part of their reluctance to marry. Under a civil law, couples must choose either surname to legally marry, a rule traditionally has caused women to abandon their maiden names.
Japan’s population of about 124 million people is projected to fall to 87 million by 2070, by when 40% of the population will be over 65.
