Japanese Births to Fall Short of One month for 2nd Year in Row

December 23, 2017

Tokyo- The number of Japanese babies born in the country in 2017 is projected to total 941,000, falling short of one million for the second straight year and a record low since such statistics began in 1899, a government estimate showed Friday.

The number of deaths in the year is estimated at 1,344,000, the highest in the post-World War II period, according to the estimate by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

As a result, Japan's natural population decline in the year is forecast to reach 403,000, continuing to expand on an annual basis.

The number of births in 2017 is expected to drop by some 36,000 from 976,978 in 2016, when the number slipped below one million for the first time on record.

The decline chiefly reflects a fall in the number of women of childbearing age.

As the total fertility rate, or the estimated average number of children a woman has in her lifetime, stood at 1.44 in 2016, the number of births is expected to continue falling.

The number of deaths in 2017 is projected to increase by some 36,000 from 1,307,748 in 2016, higher than the figure for births for 11 years in a row.

The number of newly married couples this year is estimated to fall by 14,000 to a postwar record low of 607,000, with divorces dropping by about 5,000 to 212,000.

According to an estimate released in April by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, the total fertility rate in Japan is highly likely to move around 1.44 for the time being.

The national population is estimated to slip below 100 million in 2053, falling to some 88,080,000 in 2065. Jiji Press