The rate represents the average number of children a woman is expected to give birth in her lifetime, covering those aged 15-49.

The number of newborns in 2016 totaled 976,979, down by 28,698 from the preceding year, reflecting a drop in the number of women in childbearing age, according to the survey.

Meanwhile, the number of deaths came to a postwar high of 1,307,765, up by 17,321. Of the nation's 47 prefectures, only Okinawa saw the number of births top that of deaths. The most common cause of death was cancer, accounting for 29 percent of the total deaths, followed by heart diseases, for 15 percent, and pneumonia, for 9 percent.

Japan's natural population decrease thus came to 330,786 in 2016. Deaths outpaced births for the 10th straight year, with the size of net population decline continuing to expand during the period. In 2005, Japan posted its first net population decline since the end of World War II.

"This is a serious problem," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference, commenting on the fall in the total fertility rate and the record low number of newborn babies. (Jiji Press)