Births in Japan fall to record low in 2018

NHK -- Jun 08

Government statistics show that Japan's population is shrinking at a faster pace as births hit a new record low.

The Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry says the average number of children a woman gives birth to in her lifetime stood at 1.42 in 2018. That's slightly down from a year earlier.

Okinawa was the prefecture with the highest fertility rate at 1.89. Tokyo had the lowest at 1.20.

Almost 920,000 babies were born last year. That is the fewest since statistics began in 1899.

About 1.36 million people died, the most since the end of World War Two.

The number of deaths minus that of births was about 444,000, a record high for an eleventh year in a row.

The number of male-female couples who married last year stood at 586,000. That's the lowest since the end of World War Two.

Jun 08 (ANNnewsCH) - 去年1年間の結婚の件数が戦後、最も少なかったことが分かりました。 厚生労働省によりますと、去年1年間の婚姻件数は戦後、最も少ない58万6500組で、初めて60万組を下回りました。初婚の平均年齢は男性が31.1歳、女性が29.4歳となっています。また、去年1年間に生まれた赤ちゃんは91万8400人で、調査を開始して以来、最少となった一方、国内の死亡者数は136万2500人で戦後、最多でした。全体の人口は約44万4000人減って過去最大の減少幅になりました。