The number of babies born in Japan fell to a record low of 720,988 in 2024 for a ninth consecutive year of decline, the health ministry said, underscoring the rapid ageing and dwindling of the population.
Births were down 5% on the year, despite measures in 2023 by former prime minister Fumio Kishida’s government to boost child-bearing, while a record number of 1.62 million deaths meant that more than two people died for every new baby born.
