Japan’s birth rate hits ‘critical’ new low for eighth straight year, as demographic crisis looms
- Japan’s birth rate was described as ‘critical’ by the health ministry as it hit a record low for the eighth straight year.
- Japan is scrambling for ways to encourage a baby boom to avert a looming demographic crisis
Japan’s health ministry described the nation’s birth rate as “critical” on Wednesday as it hit a record low for the eighth straight year, with the government moving to improve support for parents.
The ministry released data showing that Japan’s birth rate – the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her life – stood at 1.20 last year, well below the 2.1 children needed to maintain the population.
The figure was down from 1.26 in 2022 and was the eighth consecutive yearly decline in the country of 124 million people.
“The continuing decline in the birth rate is a critical situation,” a health ministry official in charge of the data said.
“Various factors, such as economic instability and difficulties in juggling work and child-rearing,” can be blamed for the falling figures, she said.
Declining birth rates are a common trend in developed countries, and Japan’s rate is still above that of its neighbour South Korea, which has the world’s lowest at 0.72.
However, with the world’s oldest population after Monaco, Japan is scrambling for ways to encourage a baby boom to avert a looming demographic crisis.