Annual Births Sink below 700 Thousand

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) released the Vital Statistics 2024 on June 4th. It marked the smallest number of births it its history, 686,061, going down below the line of 700,000 for the first time. The total fertility rate, which indicates the number of babies from a woman in her lifetime, also declined to the record low of 1.15. In spite of policies by national and local governments for supporting families to have babies, the trend of low birth rate is accelerating.

Births decreased for nine consecutive years. The number was smaller than that of the previous year by 41,227. The births for one thousand of population was reduced from 6.0 of the previous year to 5.7. After marking the biggest number of 2.69 million in 1949, new births have declined to less than 1 million in 2016, 900 thousand in 2019, and 800 thousand in 2022. New babies have been decreasing by 100 thousand every three years. The total fertility rate declined by 0.05 from 1.20 in 2023.

 

While new births decline, deaths are increasing. Deaths in 2024 were 1,605,298, increasing by 29,282 from 2023. It indicated 13.3 people were dead among a thousand, 0.3 percentage point more than the previous year. Natural change of population, which is the margin between births and deaths, was 919,237 of decrease, which increased by 7,509 from 2023.

 

The statistics indicate that decline of papulation in Japan has further been accelerated. Strange enough, married couples in 2024 was 485,063, increasing by 10,322 from 2023. Divorces also increased by 2,081 to 185,895. But increase of marriage surpassed that of divorce, giving more couples good chances to give new births. Nevertheless, new births declined from the previous year.

 

It is discussed that environment of female workers causes low birth rate. A woman takes leave for bearing and raising child. After the leave for certain period, she gets back to her office. But she has to restart her career from the point when she left the office, while her colleagues have been promoted to some higher positions. Considering that disadvantage, more working women refrain from taking recess for having a child. It is also said that having baby out of marriage is less in Japan than in other countries.

 

Conservative policies by the leading party are supposed to be one of the reasons of low birth rate. The Liberal Democratic Party failed in submitting its own bill to current session of the Diet for selective separate surname which causes inconvenience of female workers. Instead, working hours of male workers has not been reduced, imposing more house works on their wives.

 

According to the estimation of national institute on population at the time of 2023, it must have been 2039 when the births in Japan would decline to the level of annual 680 thousand. Reduction of new births is 14 years faster than the estimation. The government has not found a solution.

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