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16h ago

Japan’s 2025 Births Projected to Drop Below 670,000, a Record Low

A faster-than-forecast decline has prompted the creation of a Population Strategy Headquarters.

Japanese women push baby carts in Tokyo on October 2, 2015. Spending among Japanese households rebounded in August, offering a glimmer of hope after a string of weak figures, but economists warned the world's number three economy was still headed for recession. While Japan's jobless rate edged up to 3.4 percent in August, from July's 3.3 percent rate. AFP PHOTO / Yoshikazu TSUNO (Photo credit should read YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/AFP via Getty Images)
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Overview

  • Independent analysis of the first ten months of 2025 suggests annual births could fall under 670,000, which would be the lowest since records began in 1899.
  • Official projections in 2023 expected 749,000 births in 2025 and did not anticipate dropping below 670,000 until 2041.
  • Japan recorded 686,061 births in 2024 and a net population loss of more than 900,000 as deaths outnumbered births for the 18th consecutive year.
  • The government has allocated roughly $23 billion over three years for expanded child allowances, subsidized fertility treatments, and workplace reforms.
  • Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi established a Population Strategy Headquarters in November 2025, with preliminary 2025 totals expected in early 2026.