Photo/Illutration Japan’s birthrate decline is accelerating. (The Asahi Shimbun)

The number of babies born in Japan, including those of foreign nationals, fell to a record low of 720,988 in 2024, marking the ninth consecutive year of decline.

Japan’s declining birthrate shows no sign of slowing.

According to preliminary vital statistics released by the health ministry on Feb. 27, the number of births in 2024 dropped by 37,643, or 5 percent, from the previous year’s preliminary figure.

The number of births in Japan fell below 1 million in 2017.

Since then, the year-on-year decline has stayed between 3 percent and 5 percent.

A 2023 projection by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research had estimated 779,000 births in 2024.

However, the actual figure was closer to the institute’s low-end estimate of 690,000, which assumed a faster decline in the birthrate.

The low-end estimate projects that annual births will fall below 600,000 in 2040.

The latest preliminary figure includes Japanese and foreign children born in Japan, as well as Japanese children born abroad in 2024.

A separate Asahi Shimbun estimate from late last year using the government’s calculation method projected that the number of Japanese children born in Japan in 2024 would fall below 700,000.

MARRIAGES AT SECOND-LOWEST LEVEL

A health ministry official cited that couples getting married and having children later in life has contributed to the decline in births, adding that these patterns are closely intertwined.

The official also suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic may have had an impact in recent years.

The number of marriages, which directly affects the birthrate, stood at 499,999 couples in 2024, the second lowest since the end of World War II.

While the number represents a 2.2 percent increase―10,718 more marriages than in the previous year’s preliminary figure―the overall trend remains downward.

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