Japan's population fell to a record low in 2024 following a steep decline in the birth rate, according to government data.
The population of the world's fourth-largest economy fell to 120.3 million as of October last year, marking a record fall of 898,000 people from 2023.
The year-on-year shrinking population has triggered anxieties over a shrinking future workforce that could severely impact the country’s economy and separately threaten national security.
The population fell for the 14th straight year and marked the largest fall on record since the government began collecting comparable data in 1950.
The number of people aged 75 or above grew by 700,000 to 20,777,000, accounting for a record 16.8 per cent of the entire population, the government said on Monday. About 29.3 per cent of Japan's population were made up of people aged 65 or above, according to reports.
"We understand that the declining birthrate is continuing because many people who wish to raise children are not able to fulfill their wishes," chief cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters. He added that the government has been trying to offer assistance to young families who want to have children but couldn't due to financial constraints.
"We will promote comprehensive measures to realise a society where everyone who wishes to have children can have children and raise them with peace of mind," he was quoted by AFP as saying.
Japan also recorded a natural population drop for the 18th consecutive year, meaning the number of deaths outnumbered the number of births.
Last year, the number of babies born in Japan dropped to the lowest the country has ever seen since records began 125 years ago.
Prime minister Shigeru Ishiba accepted that the trend of declining births has not been reversed yet, saying: "We need to be aware the trend of falling births has not been arrested."
"But the number of marriages posted an increase. Given close ties between the number of marriages and the number of births, we should focus on this aspect as well."
The number of marriages edged up 2.2 per cent to 499,999 in 2024, which came only after steep declines, such as a plunge of 12.7 per cent in 2020.
The former prime minister Fumio Kishida's government used measures to boost childbearing, including expanding childcare facilities, offering housing subsidies, and even launching a government-run dating app to encourage marriage and childbearing.
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