Japan Worried As Birth Rate Drops To Fresh Record Low

Japan ’s birth rate declined for the seventh consecutive year in 2022 to a record low.

More so, underscoring the sense of crisis gripping the country as the population shrinks and ages rapidly.

The fertility rate, or the average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime, was 1.2565, according to the ministry on Friday.

That compares with the previous low of 1.2601 in 2005 and is far below the rate of 2.07 necessary to maintain a stable population.

Prime minister Fumio Kishida has made arresting the country’s sliding birth rate a top priority and his government,

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despite high levels of debt, plans to earmark the spending of $25bn) a year on child care and other measures to support parents.

The pandemic has exacerbated japan’s demographic challenges, with fewer marriages in recent years contributing to fewer births and covid-19 partly responsible for more deaths.

The number of newborns in Japan slid 5 percent to 770,747 last year, a new low, while the number of deaths shot 9 percent higher to a record 1.57 million, the data showed.