TOKYO: Japan’s birth rate fell for an eighth straight year to a new record low in 2023, preliminary government data showed on Tuesday, underscoring the uphill task the country faces in trying to halt depopulation.
Births fell 5.1% year-on-year to 758,631, while marriages fell 5.9% to 489,281 – the first time in 90 years that the number fell below 500,000 – portending further population decline. -marital births are rare in Japan.
Asked about the latest data, a Japanese government spokesman said the government would take “unprecedented steps” to deal with the falling birth rate, such as expanding childcare and promoting wage increases for younger workers.
“The declining birth rate is in a critical situation,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters. “The next six years or so until 2030, when the number of young people will decline rapidly, will be the last chance to reverse this trend.”
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Aware of the potential social and economic impact and strain on public finances, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called the trend “the most serious crisis facing our country” and introduced a series of measures late last year to support childbearing households.
Japan’s population is likely to decline by about 30% to 87 million by 2070, with four in 10 people aged 65 or older, according to estimates by the National Institute for Population and Welfare Research.
