The number of babies born in Japan, as well as to Japanese citizens residing overseas, dropped by 5.7 percent in the January to June period compared to the previous year, reaching a record low of 350,074, according to government data released on Friday. This decline in births is occurring as the number of marriages continues to decrease due to changing values.
Preliminary data from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare showed that the pace of decrease in births for the first half of 2024 accelerated from 3.6 percent during the same period last year. The total number of births for this period was at its lowest level since comparable data became available in 1969.
It’s important to note that these figures include data for foreigners residing in Japan.
If this declining trend continues, it is possible that the number of births for the full year could fall below 700,000 for the first time when excluding foreigners.
In addition to declining birth rates, there has also been a decrease in couples getting married. In fact, during the year leading up to June 2024, there was a drop of 1.8 percent compared to the previous year with only 491,462 couples tying the knot. However, there was a slight increase of 0.9 percent during this first half-year period with a total of 248,513 marriages compared to last year’s same time frame.
During this six-month period starting from January alone, there was an increase in deaths by 1.8 percent resulting in a natural population decline of about 461k people. In fact,the number recorded for childbirths excluding foreigners stood at its lowest point on record at just over727k births backin2023.
This declining population trend could have severe consequences such as impacting businesses and local government services due to labor shortages and reduced consumer demand.It may also put significant strain on social security systems including healthcare and pensions.
Recognizing that they are running outof time,the government has pledgedto implement “unprecedented measures”to addressthis issue beforethe early2030s which they consideras theirlast chance toreversethe country’sdeclining birthrate.