Japan has been trying to increase its birth rate for years, hoping that it could help with the rapidly aging population. It's not working. The country's health ministry announced on Tuesday that the number of babies born in 2019 fell by an estimated 5.9% this year, to 864,000. It's the first time since 1899, that the number has dipped below 900,000, according to The Asahi Shimbun. The decline in the absolute number of births is obvious given that Japan's population in 1899 was about one-third of its approximately 126 million people today.
What accounts for the sharp drop in births? That factor—namely the immense burden shouldered by Japanese women to do housework and childcare by themselves, and a culture that makes it difficult to both have a job outside the home and be a mother. Younger generations of Japanese women have increasingly choose to continue working, rather than get married, have children, and give up their careers. Marriage rates in Japan have halved since the early 1970s, and birth rates have declined quickly.
At the other end of the life cycle, the numbers were also notable. Japan had its highest numbers of deaths this year since the end of World War II: nearly 1.4 million. That means that in 2019, the country's natural population declined greatly — also a first, according to Asahi. The country's population is aging, and it now has the world's highest proportion of people over the age of 65.
Japan's population has declined every year since 2007. And while other countries have countered declining birth rates by permitting immigration, Japan has been slow to allow foreigners to settle there. Japan, hoping to counter a labor force shortage, is taking small steps to allow foreigners to at least work in the country.
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