Japan's marriage-child birth rates have both declined

Japan's population is decreasing every year. Symbolic photo: Reuters

Japan's birth rate has fallen for eight consecutive years. Again, in the last eight years, it has decreased the most in 2023. This information was found in the preliminary data published by the Japanese government on Tuesday. At the same time, the marriage rate in the country has also decreased compared to before.

Japan released preliminary official data on birth and marriage rates today. As seen, the child birth rate has decreased by a record 5.1 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year. 7 lakh 58 thousand 631 children were born in the country in 2023.

According to Japanese government data, there were 489,281 marriages in the same country in 2023. In 2023, the marriage rate in the country decreased by 5.9 percent compared to the previous year. Not only that, but this is the first time in 90 years that the number of marriages in a year in Japan has fallen below 500,000. In this situation, the population in the country is feared to decrease further. Out-of-wedlock childbearing is rare in Japan.

The low birth rate has worried the Japanese government. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has vowed to take urgent action to tackle the country's declining birth rate. Now is the time to take action to increase Japan's birth rate, he said. If action is not taken now, it will be too late. So no time to wait.

For several years, the Japanese government has been giving various incentives to the people to increase the birth rate. Various benefits including cash have also been announced for having more children. But according to the survey, Japan is one of the most expensive countries in the world to raise a child. Because of this, many people do not want to have children.

According to the forecast of the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, by 2070 Japan's population will decrease by 30 percent compared to the current situation to 87 million. At that time, 4 out of 10 people will be 65 or older. Currently, the population of Japan is more than 12.5 million.