 |
According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on February 28th, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced that the number of births in 2022 (preliminary figures) will decrease by 5.1% from the previous year to 799,728.
The annual rate of decline has also expanded from 2021 (3.4%).
It was the first time since 1899, when related statistics were compiled, that the annual number of newborns fell below 800,000, 11 years earlier than expected by the Japanese government. This is a 30% decrease from the all-time high of 2,696,000 in 1949.
In Japan, the number of newborns has reached its lowest level for seven years in a row.
The number of marriages plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the number of newborns fell by 100,000 in the three years from 2019 (899,000) to last year. The number of marriages surpassed 600,000 in 2019, but fell to 527,000 in 2020, 514,000 in 2021, and 519,823 in 2022, falling to the lower half of 500,000 in three years.
The number of newborns is decreasing, and the decline in the overall population is accelerating. The number of deaths last year was 1,582,033, up 8.9% from the previous year, the highest number ever.
The preliminary figures this time include births and deaths of foreigners, and figures for Japanese only will be released in June. Prime Minister Kishida, who has presented countermeasures to the declining birthrate as his administration's top priority, plans to issue related measures at the end of March.
2023/03/06 09:47 KST
