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TOKYO: Japan’s fertility rate fell again last year to a new record low, official data showed on Wednesday, underscoring the demographic crisis gnawing at the world’s fourth-largest economy.
Japan has one of the world’s lowest birth rates, as well as a falling and ageing population, leading to labour shortages, a ballooning social security bill and a shrinking tax base.
Government figures showed the total fertility rate — the average number of children a woman is expected to have during her lifetime — dropped by 0.01 from a year earlier to 1.14, the 10th straight year of decline.
The number of babies born in the country fell by nearly 15,000 to just over 670,000, the lowest figure since records began in 1899. The figures follow preliminary data released in February, which showed around 706,000 births but included non-Japanese babies born in the country and Japanese citizens born abroad.
