Japan records biggest ever population drop in 2021

Japan records biggest ever population drop in 2021
Some Japanese kids.
PHOTO: Unsplash

TOKYO - Japan recorded a record low number of births in 2021, prompting the biggest ever natural decline in the population, government data showed on Friday (June 3).

There were 811,604 births last year, the fewest in health ministry data going back to 1899. Deaths climbed to 1,439,809, leading to an overall drop of 628,205 in the population.

The overall fertility rate - the average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime - slid for a sixth straight year to 1.3.

Japan has one of the fastest ageing populations on earth. The country's closed borders over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic have hastened the shrinkage of its workforce.

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