By NATSUNO OTAHARA/ Staff Writer
November 29, 2023 at 17:12 JST
The Tokyo metropolitan government building complex in the Shinjuku district (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Tokyo ranked at the bottom among Japan’s 47 prefectures in the total fertility rate, the number of children a woman is expected to give birth to during her lifetime.
The rate in the capital was 1.04 in 2022, down 0.04 point from the previous year, according to an annual Tokyo metropolitan government report based on the health ministry’s Vital Statistics.
By comparison, the total fertility rate for Japan was 1.26 in 2022.
The number of births in Tokyo fell for the seventh consecutive year to 91,097, down 4,307 from 2021.
The number of marriages increased for the first time in three years to 75,179, up 5,366 from 2021. The figure was the highest in Japan.
The number of divorces decreased for the third consecutive year to 19,255, down 350 from 2021.
The average age of the first marriage was 32.3 years for husbands and 30.7 years for wives, both the highest in Japan.
“We would like to continue our efforts to support those who wish to get married and have children,” said an official at the Tokyo metropolitan government’s Bureau of Public Health.
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