Thursday, June 10, 2021

Record Low Number of Children in Japan


After falling for forty years, Japan's child population hit a new record low.  As of April 1, 2021, the number of children age 14 and younger was 14.93 million.  This is 190,000 fewer than last year. In Japan there are 7.65 million boys and 7.28 girls.  The child population in Japan peaked in 1954, at 29.89 million.  It briefly picked up in the early 1970's but has fallen continuously since 1982.  


The senior population (age 65 and older) has been greater than the child population since 1995. According to the 2019 United Nations population estimates, Japan has the lowest child population ratio of 33 countries with more than 40 million citizens.  


The number of children in future years is expected to get even lower.  In 2020, there were only 840,832 births in Japan according to the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare. This was a new record low. The number of marriages in the country, 525,490, also hit a low not seen since the end of World War II.


4 comments:

Queeniepatch said...

The pandemic is the cause of the low rate of marriages. Although all. you need to do is to register your marriage at the local Town Hall, must couples, and their parents) certainly want to have a wedding banquet and invite family and friends. I am sure many have postponed the ceremony and party till all is settled.

jacaranda said...

In a lot of countries, couples don't seem to be having as many children as when our parents did. I heard that China has allowed the increase of children in families.

kiwikid said...

Interesting what is happening around the world. Lots of weddings were happening here but the latest virus outbreak has put a stop to that for now.

Leonore Winterer said...

These numbers are really sad. I wonder what the future will hold for the Japanese population.