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Japan's fertility rate falls for seventh straight year

Japan said its fertility rate dropped for the seventh straight year and its population declines. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI
Japan said its fertility rate dropped for the seventh straight year and its population declines. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo

June 2 (UPI) -- Japan's Ministry of Health said on Friday that the country's fertility rate dropped for the seventh straight year in 2022, with the COVID-19 pandemic being blamed partially for the latest decline.

The ministry said total fertility rate -- the average number of children a woman is estimated to bear in her lifetime -- slipped to its lowest total since 2005 at 1.26.

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Officials said Tokyo had the lowest fertility rate of 1.08. Miyagi Prefecture's rate fell to 1.15 and Hokkaido at 1.20. Okinawa Prefecture had the country's highest rate at 1.80 followed by two Kagoshima a t1.65 and Miyazaki at 1.64.

The statistics indicated that the birth decline has also picked up speed, with births decreasing by 24,404 in 2020 and 29,213 in 2021.

Babies born in Japan dropped to 770,747, depths not seen since the country started keeping such statistics in 1899. The total was a drop of 40,875 from the previous year, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said.

Ministry officials said the latest fall can be contributed to people delaying having children because of the COVID-19 pandemic, while the trend toward delaying marriages also tumbled.

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In February, Japanese officials reported total births at 799,728 while the number of deaths in the country also increased to 1.58 million.

The Japanese government in April created a new agency designed to coordinate efforts to reverse the low birth rate. The Children and Families Agency is expected to address issues related to birth rates as well as tackling child abuse and poverty.

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