# Births in Japan hit another record low in 2024, falling for the ninth straight year as young people delay marriage while the elderly population rises. The numbers highlight the dramatic demographic challenges facing the world’s fourth-biggest economy, where a shrinking workforce is having to shoulder the costs of caring for a ballooning elderly population. In 2024 births were down five-percent compared to 2023. The number of births shrank to the lowest since government started tracking the data in 1899. Deaths were more than double the number of births.
Births in Japan lowest since government starting tracking data in 1899