TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan recorded a record low variety of births in 2021, prompting the biggest ever pure decline in the population, authorities knowledge confirmed on Friday.
There had been 811,604 births final 12 months, the fewest in well being ministry knowledge going again to 1899. Deaths climbed to 1,439,809, resulting in an total drop of 628,205 in the population.
The total fertility price — the typical variety of kids born to a girl in her lifetime — slid for a sixth straight 12 months, to 1.3.
Japan has one of many quickest growing older populations on earth, and the nation’s closed borders over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic have hastened the shrinkage of its workforce.
(Reporting by Rocky Swift; Editing by Christina Fincher)
