Tokyo, Japan
AP
–
The number of newborns in Japan is falling faster than expected, with annual births falling to a record low last year, according to government data released Wednesday.
The Ministry of Health said 686,061 babies were born in Japan in 2024, a 5.7% decrease the previous year, and this is the first time the number of newborns has fallen below 700,000 since the record began in 1899.
In the postwar baby boom, this is about a quarter of the peak birth rate of 2.7 million people in 1949.
Data from countries that are rapidly aging and shrinking are increasing concerns about economic sustainability and national security at the time they seek to increase defense spending.
Prime Minister Isbaiba described the situation as a “quiet emergency,” and has pledged to promote more flexible working conditions and other measures, especially in rural areas where family values tend to be more conservative and difficult for women.
Japan is one of many East Asian countries that are tackling declining birth rates and the elderly population. South Korea and China have fought for years to encourage families to have more children. Also on Wednesday, Vietnam scrapped the decades-old law and restricted its family to two children to stop the decline in fertility rates.
The latest data from the Ministry of Health showed that Japan’s fertility rate (the average number of babies women expect to have in their lifetime) also fell to a new low of 1.15 in 2024, from 1.2 years old, age 1.2. The number of marriages rose slightly to 485,063 couples, but the decline since the 1970s has not changed.
Experts say the government measures focus primarily on already married couples and do not address the rise in young people who are reluctant to marry.
Young people are reluctant to marry or have children due to their bleak job outlook, high cost of living, and a gender-based corporate culture that adds extra burdens to women and working mothers, experts say.
More and more women are citing the pressure to take their husbands surname as a reason they don’t want to marry them. Under Japanese law, couples must choose a single last name to marry.
Japan’s population is projected to decrease to 87 million by 2070, with 40% of the population exceeding 65.
