Japan’s long-time population problems continued as the number of new children born in 2025 reached only 705,809, according to a news report by Kyodo News. The figure, which includes foreign residents, is the lowest since the counting of newborn children started in 1899.
To put things in perspective, posted below is an excerpt from the news report of Kyodo News. Some parts in boldface…
The number of children born in Japan in 2025 fell from a year earlier to 705,809, the fewest since data became available in 1899 and hitting a new low for the 10th consecutive year, health ministry data showed Thursday.
The figure, which includes foreign residents, was down from 2024 by 2.1 percent, or 15,179 births, as the country faces a rapidly graying population and increased anxiety over child-rearing due to the higher cost of living amid inflation. The pace of decline, however, slowed from a year earlier.
In addition to economic anxiety, more people appear to be choosing to marry and have children later in life, or not to marry at all, due to a shift in priorities, experts say.
Population decline showed no signs of abating, with the natural decrease — subtracting the number of births from deaths — hitting the highest ever at 899,845, according to preliminary data released by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research had projected that the number of births, including those of foreign residents in the country, would not drop below 710,000 until 2042.
In separate data released by the ministry in June last year, the number of babies born to Japanese nationals in 2024 fell to 680,000, dropping below 700,000 for the first time.
The 2.1 percent decrease shown in the latest data — compared with 5.0 percent in 2024 — likely partially reflects a second straight year of increasing marriages in 2025, up 1.1 percent to 505,656.
The number is still far below the more than 600,000 marriages Japan had seen annually until 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic disrupted normal patterns of social interaction.
“We haven’t been able to turn the trend, unfortunately,” a senior government official said at a news conference on Thursday.
Among the few bright spots for the country’s 47 prefectures, Tokyo and Ishikawa, in central Japan, saw an increase in birth numbers.
The change in Tokyo, where the figure rose by 1.3 percent in the first increase in nine years, could be the result of an influx of people into the capital along with the child-rearing support orchestrated by the metropolitan government, experts say.
Ishikawa’s case is seen as a rebound from a decrease in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula in January 2024.
The remaining 45 prefectures continued to see births decline, with the steepest drop of 8.7 percent in Shimane followed by decreases in Yamagata, Aomori and Nagano.
Rural regions have seen their populations decrease as people opt to leave for schools and jobs. Few municipalities have found a winning formula to reverse the trend.
Let me end this piece by asking you readers: What is your reaction to this development? What do you think the government led by Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae should do to stop the population decline? Do you think allowing more foreigners to legally migrate into Japan is the answer?
You may answer in the comments below. If you prefer to answer privately, you may do so by sending me a direct message online.
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