The number of babies born in Japan fell below 1 million for the first time in 2016, while over 1.3 million people died, resulting in the largest population decline on record according to the results of a government survey revealed last week.
976,979 babies were born in 2016, down 28,698 from a year earlier and the lowest number since records began in 1899.
Meanwhile, the number of deaths also rose to a postwar high of 1,307,765, resulting in a record population decline of 330,786, said Japan's health ministry.
Total fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman will bear in her lifetime -- was 1.44, down 0.01 point. Japan is said to require a fertility rate of 2.07 in order to maintain its population, noted the Kyodo News.
With such figures, it will be harder for Japan to achieve its fertility rate target of 1.8 by the end of fiscal year 2025 and its goal of maintaining the population at around 100 million in 2060.
The number of births has fallen gradually since the 1970s baby boom, during which more than 2 million babies were born annually. In 1984, the number fell below 1.5 million and 1.1 million in 2005.
Women are having babies at a later age. While the number of babies born in 2016 to women in their 20s and 30s fell by some 13,911 and 14,962 respectively compared to 2015, it increased by slightly, by 1,009, among mothers in their 40s, said the Kyodo news report.
Impact of decline
There are some advantages to the latest numbers, with unemployment in April at its lowest in decades, and construction in Japan’s famously crowded cities slowing.
Yet the outlook for the labour force is grim in the long run, with a smaller active population to support retirees adding pressure on pension and healthcare. In some areas, a majority of residents are over 65, noted a New York Times report. Adding to this is little public support in Japan for large scale immigration, a possible solution that some other countries have turned to.
In a speech to business leaders last week, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for a “national movement” to address Japan’s demographic challenges and for the improvement of productivity. The government has taken steps to keep older workers in their jobs longer, and to encourage companies to invest in automation.
“The labour shortage is getting serious,” he said. “To overcome it, we need to improve productivity.”
As the population decline accelerates, it will be hard to see economic growth in Japan. It is still difficult to predict how much the population size will fall, but demographers say the basic trajectory is clear, reported the New York Times.