There were 670,000 births in Japan in 2025, which is the lowest number since records began in 1899.
Falling Fertility Rates
The number of births in Japan dropped to 671,236 in 2025, down 14,937 year on year. Demographic statistics published by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare confirmed that there were less than 700,000 births for the second successive year, and a record low for the tenth year running, based on comparable statistics available since 1899. The total fertility rate, indicating the number of children a woman has in her lifetime, fell by 0.01 points to a new low of 1.14.
Eastern prefectures tended to have lower fertility rates than those in the west, with Tokyo remaining below 1 for the second year, at 0.96, followed by Miyagi and Hokkaidō at 1.00. The highest fertility rates were Okinawa at 1.52, Miyazaki at 1.46, Fukui at 1.45, Nagasaki at 1.42, Shimane at 1.41, and Kagawa and Kumamoto at 1.40.
The number of marriages increased for a second successive year, climbing by 4,027 to 489,119, but the figure remains low. Cultural factors including the general aversion to having children outside of marriage in Japan and trends toward marrying late or not at all present major challenges to efforts to lift the number of births.
Japan’s Demographics
Data Sources
(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © PhotoAC.)