Tokyo:
The quantity of babies born in Japan fell to a record low last year, as more couples place off marriage and beginning a family amid a international pandemic, mentioned reports.
Japan has been struggling with a looming demographic crisis for years, with its birth price continually declining — raising issues of the aging population and shrinking workforce.
According to the Health Ministry of Japan, the quantity of births fell to 8,40,832 in 2020, down 2.8 per cent from a year earlier and the lowest given that records started in 1899.
The CNN reported that the quantity of registered marriages in Japan fell 12.3 per cent last year to 5,25,490, a post-war record, the ministry mentioned. The country’s fertility price, the anticipated quantity of births per lady, declined to 1.34 per cent, amongst the lowest in the world.
It is a “super-aged” nation, which means more than 20 per cent of its population is older than 65 year old. The country’s total population stood at 124 million in 2018 — but by 2065 it is anticipated to have dropped to about 88 million.
While, neighbouring South Korea has also struggled with low birth prices for years in 2020, it reported more deaths than births for the very first time — a marker identified as the “population death cross,” which means the total population has shrunk.
And in China, the world’s most populous nation, the quantity of newborns registered dropped nearly 15 per cent last year. The government last week announced it would additional ease its strict family preparing policy by permitting couples to have up to 3 children to combat the slide.
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