Japan posts record low 840,000 newborns in 2020
The number of babies born in Japan fell to a record low of 840,832 in 2020, a year when the nation was hit by the coronavirus pandemic, government data showed Friday.
The figure marked the lowest level since the health ministry started taking such surveys in 1899. It was down 24,407 from the previous year when the number dipped below 900,000 for the first time.
The data revealed that the shrinking and rapid aging of the nation s population is accelerating amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato expressed a sense of crisis over the all-time low number and stressed the importance of removing obstacles for bearing and raising children in society.