Japan's Birth Rate Continues to Decline, Villages Face Risk of Abandonment

TOKYO, KOMPAS.com - The number of births in Japan has declined for ten consecutive years until 2025.

Official data released on Thursday (26/2/2026) highlights the challenges facing Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

As reported by Channel News Asia, preliminary data from the Japanese Ministry of Health shows that a total of 705,809 babies were born in Japan throughout 2025, a decrease of 2.1 percent from 2024.

The data includes births of Japanese citizens in Japan, births of foreign citizens in Japan, and babies born to Japanese citizens abroad.

Meanwhile, 505,656 couples married in 2025, an increase of 1.1 percent, while the number of divorces decreased by 3.7 percent to 182,969 cases.

In addition, there were 1,605,654 deaths, a decrease of 13,030 or 0.8 percent from 2024.

It is worth noting that the country, which has the fourth largest economy in the world, has one of the lowest birth rates in the world and a declining and aging population.

This leads to a number of problems, including labour shortages, rising social security costs, and a decrease in the number of taxpayers.

This, in turn, adds to Japan’s large debt. The country already has the highest debt ratio among major economies.

Last year’s data showed that the number of people aged 100 and over almost reached 100,000, with almost 90 percent of them being women.

Japanese leaders have pledged to increase the birth rate but with limited success.

The Tokyo city government is developing its own dating app, which requires users to submit documents proving that they are still single and sign a letter stating that they are willing to marry.

“The declining birth rate and shrinking population are an emergency that will gradually erode the vitality of our country,” said Takaichi last week.