Japan’s birth rate recorded below 800,000 this year raising the specter of its population falling below the 100 million thresholds much faster than anticipated.
Newsnomics AJAY ANGELINA reporter | Japan’s birth rate recorded low of below 800,000 this year, according
to the latest official statistics, raising the specter of its population falling below the 100 million thresholds much faster than anticipated.
Births among Japanese nationals figured out 798,561 as per data released by the Ministry of Health, Labor
and Welfare in October 2022, dipped below 800,000 births in Japan within 12 months through May.
“Only 599,636 babies were born in the first nine months of the year, includes births of foreign nationals” said
health ministry in its preliminary report. That's 30,933 fewer births than during the same period last year, a
drop of 4.9 percent. In all, there were 811,622 babies born in 2021.
Last year, Japan recorded 811,000 births, lower than the earlier years due to the COVID-19 pandemic fallout
that discouraged marriage and pregnancies. Births recorded in the first half of this year reached 367,232, a
decline of 5% from a year earlier.
So far, the efforts of Japanese government to encourage people to have more babies has been limited
despite payments of subsidies for pregnancy, childbirth and childcare.
Now, Chief Cabinet Secretary HiroKazu Matsuno promised comprehensive measures to encourage more
marriages and births.
“The pace is even slower than last year… I understand that it is critical situation,” Matsuno said.
A government commissioned panel submitted a report to Prime minister Fumio Kishida last week citing the
low birth rate and falling population as factors that might erode Japan’s national strength.
Japan’s population of more than 125million has been declining for 14 years that is projected to fall about
740,000 in 2040 and 86.7 million by 2060.
