Japan’s child population down for 45th straight year
The estimated population of children under 15 in Japan stood at 13.29 million as of April 1, down for the 45th straight year, the Internal Affairs Ministry said Monday, Qazinform News Agency cites Jiji Press.
The child population, down 350,000 from a year earlier, again fell to its lowest level since 1950, when comparable data under the current format became available. The ministry's announcement preceded Children's Day on Tuesday.
The population stood at 6.81 million boys and 6.48 million girls. The share of children in the country's total population decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 10.8%, marking the 52nd consecutive year of decline and reaching a new record low.
The proportion is the second lowest among 38 countries with total populations exceeding 40 million, only behind South Korea's 10.2%, according to data from a different survey period. Japan was followed by Italy at 11.7% and Spain at 12.6%.
Among the child population in Japan, 3.09 million were aged 12 to 14, 2.96 million aged 9 to 11, 2.68 million aged 6 to 8, 2.43 million aged 3 to 5, and 2.13 million aged 0 to 2.
Earlier, it was reported that a survey found that over 60% of unmarried young people in Japan said they did not want children in 2025, up from 56.6% in 2024, despite the government's measures to reverse the record low birth rate.
