Photo/Illutration The health ministry building in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Deaths in Japan hit a postwar record of 1,452,289 in 2021, and the Delta variant of the novel coronavirus was partly to blame.

The health ministry released preliminary population trend figures on Feb. 25 which showed that deaths increased by 67,745 over the previous year, the highest number since the end of World War II.

And continuing a longstanding trend, the number of births hit a record low in 2021 at 842,897.

The number of deaths in 2020 decreased year-on-year for the first time in 11 years. The figure has been climbing since then.

An analysis of the causes of death revealed that COVID-19 resulted in 14,563 more fatalities during the period between January and September compared with the same period of the previous year.

In addition, around 20,000 more deaths involved elderly people. Natural causes or aspiration pneumonia accounted for many of them.

The number of births in 2021 fell by 29,786 over the previous year.

Despite concerns that more women were holding off on becoming pregnant due to the pandemic, a health ministry official said the decrease reflected a similar trend that was evident prior to the public health crisis.

Officials said they expected the birthrate to keep falling because fewer people are getting married.

There were 514,242 marriages in 2021, a decrease of 23,341 over the previous year.

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