Last year, only 720,000 babies were born in Japan, but 1.62 million people died

New figures in Japan show that just 720,000 babies were born last year, a record low.

Population statistics released by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on Thursday (February 27) showed that the number of babies born last year, including foreigners, fell 5 percent year-on-year to 37,643 fewer than in 2023, the lowest on record for nine consecutive years, Kyodo News reported.

In addition, the number of deaths last year reached a record high of 1.62 million, far more than the number of births.

Despite a series of measures by former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government to boost fertility in 2023, the rate of decline in the birth rate is still faster than expected.

The reasons for the low number of children include increasing economic concerns about raising children due to rising prices, increasing the trend of unmarried people, and a sharp decline in the number of marriages due to the COVID-19 pandemic.