Annual births in Japan fall for 16th straight year

Euronews

05-06-2025

The number of newborns in Japan is decreasing faster than projected, with the number of annual births falling to another record low last year, according to new government data.
The Health Ministry said 686,061 babies were born in Japan in 2024, down 5.7 per cent from the previous year and the first time the number of newborns fell below 700,000 since records began in 1899.
It's the 16th straight year of decline, and about one-quarter of the peak of 2.7 million births in 1949, during the postwar baby boom.
The data in a country of rapidly ageing and shrinking population adds to concern about the sustainability of the economy and national security at a time it seeks to increase defense spending.
Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has described the situation as "a silent emergency".
He has promised to promote a more flexible working environment and other measures that would help married couples to balance work and parenting, especially in rural areas where family values tend to be more conservative and harder on women.
Japan is one of a number of east Asian countries grappling with falling birth rates and an ageing population. South Korea and China, for example, have fought for years to encourage families to have more children.
And on Wednesday, Vietnam scrapped decades-old laws limiting families to two children in an effort to stem falling birth rates.
The Health Ministry's latest data showed that Japan's fertility rate – the average number of babies a woman is expected to have in her lifetime – also fell to a new low of 1.15 in 2024, from 1.2 a year earlier.
The number of marriages was slightly up, to 485,063 couples, but the downturn since the 1970s remains unchanged.
Experts say the government's measures have not addressed a growing number of young people reluctant to marry, largely focusing on already married couples.
The younger generation is increasingly reluctant to marry or have children due to bleak job prospects, a high cost of living, and a gender-biased corporate culture that adds extra burdens for women and working mothers, experts say.
A growing number of women also cite pressure to take their husband's surname as a reason for their reluctance to marry. Under Japanese law, couples must choose a single surname to marry.
Japan's population of about 124 million people is projected to fall to 87 million by 2070, with 40 per cent of the population over 65.
Pregnant women should not take weight loss drugs, the UK's medicines regulator warned amid concerns that people are using the so-called 'skinny jabs' in unsafe ways.
The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) also said women should not take weight loss drugs if they are breastfeeding or trying to get pregnant, because there isn't enough safety data to know whether the medicine could affect their baby.
'Anyone who gets pregnant while using them should speak to their healthcare professional and stop the medicine as soon as possible,' the agency said.
Meanwhile, all women taking the jabs should ensure they are using a form of contraception that works, the MHRA said.
One of the drugs, Mounjaro, may make birth control pills less effective, so the agency says women taking the jab should also use a non-oral form of contraception, like an implant or intrauterine device (IUD).
'Obesity reduces fertility in women. So, women with obesity taking GLP-1 drugs are more likely to get pregnant than before they lost weight,' Dr Channa Jayasena, a reproductive endocrinology researcher at Imperial College London, said in a statement.
'Women are advised to do all they can to prevent pregnancy while taking [these] drugs,' Jayasena added.
In the UK, women already receive these warnings when they get their prescriptions for the blockbuster jabs, which include Ozempic, Wegovy, Saxenda, and Victoza as well as Mounjaro.
The drugs, known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, work by mimicking hormones that help regulate appetites and make people feel full for longer. They have been approved to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity.
But the MHRA issued the reminder Thursday due to concerns that the drugs' growing popularity means women are buying them illegally online or at beauty salons, without seeing a doctor.
'Skinny jabs are medicines licensed to treat specific medical conditions and should not be used as aesthetic or cosmetic treatments,' Dr Alison Cave, MHRA's chief safety officer, said in a statement.
'They are not a quick fix to lose weight and have not been assessed to be safe when used in this way,' she added.