TOKYO —
The estimated number of newborn babies in Japan in 2015 rose by around 4,000 from the previous year to 1,008,000, marking the first increase since 2010, the health ministry said Thursday.
The ministry’s estimates also showed the number of people who died in 2015 totaled 1,302,000, up 29,000 from a year earlier. As a result, the natural population decline, calculated by deducting the number of deaths from that of births, stood at a record 294,000.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare attributed the rise to an improvement in employment conditions and government efforts to boost day care services as well as an increase in the number of births among women in their early 30s in the first half of 2015.
But the overall trend of a decline in the number of children is expected to continue with a fall in the population of women of reproductive age.
The number of newborn babies, which hit more than 2 million annually in the 1970s, dropped below 1.5 million in 1984 and below 1.1 million in 2005, the health ministry data showed.
On the other hand, the number of deaths topped 1.3 million for the first time in 2015, resulting in a natural population decline for the ninth consecutive year. The top four leading causes of death in the country were cancer, heart disease, pneumonia and cerebrovascular disease.
The number of couples that got married in 2015 stood at 635,000, down about 9,000 from 2014 and marking a record low for postwar Japan. Divorced couples numbered 225,000, up around 3,000.
On average, a person was born every 31 seconds and a person died every 24 seconds. Couples got married every 50 seconds and divorced every 140 seconds.
No. of newborn babies rises in 2015 for 1st time since 2010 ‹ Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
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@Steve781 @somsak --- as I have said and alluded to, increasing the live births will be the ultimate solution to our population crisis. Anyways, one positive step !
The estimated number of newborn babies in Japan in 2015 rose by around 4,000 from the previous year to 1,008,000, marking the first increase since 2010, the health ministry said Thursday.
The ministry’s estimates also showed the number of people who died in 2015 totaled 1,302,000, up 29,000 from a year earlier. As a result, the natural population decline, calculated by deducting the number of deaths from that of births, stood at a record 294,000.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare attributed the rise to an improvement in employment conditions and government efforts to boost day care services as well as an increase in the number of births among women in their early 30s in the first half of 2015.
But the overall trend of a decline in the number of children is expected to continue with a fall in the population of women of reproductive age.
The number of newborn babies, which hit more than 2 million annually in the 1970s, dropped below 1.5 million in 1984 and below 1.1 million in 2005, the health ministry data showed.
On the other hand, the number of deaths topped 1.3 million for the first time in 2015, resulting in a natural population decline for the ninth consecutive year. The top four leading causes of death in the country were cancer, heart disease, pneumonia and cerebrovascular disease.
The number of couples that got married in 2015 stood at 635,000, down about 9,000 from 2014 and marking a record low for postwar Japan. Divorced couples numbered 225,000, up around 3,000.
On average, a person was born every 31 seconds and a person died every 24 seconds. Couples got married every 50 seconds and divorced every 140 seconds.
No. of newborn babies rises in 2015 for 1st time since 2010 ‹ Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion
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@Steve781 @somsak --- as I have said and alluded to, increasing the live births will be the ultimate solution to our population crisis. Anyways, one positive step !
