World
Japan: Just 811,604 Births In 2021 As Worst-case Scenarios Feared On Demographic Crisis Begins To Unfold
- Japan recorded just 811,604 births in 2021, according to latest data released by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on Friday (Jun 3).
Japan
Japan recorded just 811,604 births in 2021, according to latest data released by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on Friday (Jun 3).
Births in Japan have fallen for a 14th straight year. In 2016, the number of births in a year for the first time dropped below 1 million, and it is now on track to fall below 800,000. Births have been on a steady downward spiral since peaking at 2.09 million in 1973 in the middle of the country's second baby boom.
According to the health ministry, which began collecting such data in 1899, the average number of children a woman is estimated to bear in her lifetime declined by 0.03 point from 2020 to 1.30, while the number of marriages decreased by 24,391 to 501,116, the fewest in the postwar era.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the falling birth rate "could shake the foundations of our society and economy" and pledged to tackle the issue as the government's top priority.
Hoping to address the demographic crisis, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government has proposed an expansion of support for child rearing.
A recent tweet from Tesla CEO Elon Musk warned that "Japan will eventually cease to exist" unless births exceed deaths.
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