December 23, 2016

Japan's birth rate may fall below 1m




The number of births in Japan is likely to fall below a million this year for the 
first time since data became available in 1899, the government said on Thursday, 
reflecting a fast-aging society and the high cost of child care. Japan will also post 
a natural population decline this year as deaths outpace births, its 10th consecutive 
drop, according to an estimate by the health ministry.

The total number of births is expected to be between 980,000 and 990,000 this 
year, down from slightly more than a million last year, data from the ministry showed.

Births hit a record high of 2.696 million in 1949.
A shrinking population of women in their 20s and 30s -about 13.66 million in 
October or 20% fewer than a decade ago -is a key factor in the falling number of 
births, a ministry official said.

Japan's fertility rate was 1.45 in 2015, up 0.03 points from a year earlier, helped 
by an economic recovery, and is recovering from the record low of 1.26 hit in 2005. 
However, it is still far from the government's goal of 1.80. Japan's cabinet on Thursday 
approved a record $830 billion spending budget for fiscal 2017, which includes child-
rearing support.


Source: The Times of India


No comments:

Post a Comment