Photo/Illutration Amid Japan’s declining birthrate, the number of newborns fell below 800,000 just two years earlier, in 2022. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The number of babies born in Japan in 2024 fell to a record low of 686,061, marking the first time the figure has dipped below 700,000 since statistic keeping began in 1899, the health ministry announced on June 4.

A ministry official described the situation as "critical," saying, “Multiple complex factors are preventing individuals from fulfilling their hopes of marriage and starting families.”

The country’s total fertility rate also hit a historic low of 1.15, highlighting the accelerating decline in births.

The total fertility rate--the average number of babies a woman is expected to give birth to in her lifetime--fell by 0.05 point from the previous year, reaching the lowest level since the government began keeping records in 1947.

The number of births dropped by 41,227, or 5.7 percent, from 2023. This comes just two years after a milestone was marked in 2022 when births fell below 800,000 for the first time.

The figures exclude foreign nationals born in Japan and Japanese nationals born outside the country.

The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research had forecast 755,000 births for 2024, significantly underestimating the downward trend.

The institute had predicted that births wouldn’t dip below 690,000 until 2039–yet that threshold was crossed 15 years earlier.

The actual figure for 2024 was, in fact, close to its lowest-estimate scenario, which projected 668,000 births.

Meanwhile, the number of marriages in 2024 rose slightly to 485,063 couples, a 2.2 percent increase from the previous year. Divorces also increased by 1.1 percent to 185,895 cases.

Deaths hit a record high of 1,605,298, up 1.9 percent from 2023. As a result, the natural population decline stood at a staggering 919,237 people, the largest drop ever recorded.

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