Japan recorded a record low of 811,000 newborns in 2021, the lowest since the census was officially launched in 1899.
According to government data released today, Friday, by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, and published by the Japanese Kyodo News Agency, the number of children born in Japan fell to a record level of 811,604 in 2021.
The data pointed out that this number is the lowest number since the Ministry of Health began collecting such data in 1899, and it has decreased by 29,231 from the previous year.
According to the data, the average number of children a woman will give birth to in her lifetime decreased by 0.03 points from 2020 to 1.30, while the number of marriages decreased from 24,391 to 501,116, the lowest number in the post-war era.
Famous businessman Elon Musk has warned that Japan will disappear if it does not overcome its low birth rates.
And according to what Musk wrote on his account on the social networking site Twitter, he said: “In light of the danger of declaring the obvious, unless something changes that leads to the birth rate exceeding the death rate, Japan will eventually cease to exist, this will be a great loss for the world.” .
At risk of stating the obvious, unless something changes to cause the birth rate to exceed the death rate, Japan will eventually cease to exist. This would be a great loss for the world.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 7, 2022
Musk wrote this tweet on May 7, commenting on a topic published by the Japanese news agency Kyodo, in April that stated that Japan’s population fell by a record 644,000 people to just over 125.5 million in 2021, which is This marks the eleventh consecutive year of decline. The decline was the largest since 1950, when comparable data became available.
The Japanese government is grappling with the challenges of an aging population, declining births and the labor force, and has hoped to ease the labor shortage by trying to increase foreign workers under a relaxed visa regime.