Society Japan births drop to 706,000 in 2025, extending record low streak to 10 years

[thomas]

Japan recorded 705,809 births in 2025, down from the previous year and the lowest figure since records began in 1899, health ministry data released last Thursday showed. The decline marks the 10th consecutive year of record lows.

The figure, including foreign residents, was down 2.1 percent from 2024 amid a rapidly graying population and increased anxiety over child-rearing due to the higher cost of living amid inflation. The pace of decline, however, slowed from a year earlier. In addition to economic anxiety, more people appear to be choosing to marry and have children later in life, or not to marry at all, due to a shift in priorities, experts pointed out. Population decline showed no signs of abating, with the natural decrease -- subtracting the number of births from deaths -- hitting the highest ever at 899,845, according to preliminary data released by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research had projected that annual births, including those to foreign residents, would not fall below 710,000 until 2042. Separate health ministry data released in June last year showed births to Japanese nationals dropped to 680,000 in 2024, slipping below the 700,000 mark for the first time.

Births in Japan fall in 2025 to 706,000, record low for 10th straight year - The Mainichi

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The number of children born in Japan in 2025 fell from a year earlier to 705,809, the fewest since data became available in 1899 and

mainichi.jp