(Tokyo, May 5) On the eve of Japan’s national holiday, “Children’s Day” (May 5), the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications released data on May 4 showing that the number of children in Japan has decreased for the 44th consecutive year. As of April 1, the number of children under 15 years old, including foreign residents, was 13.66 million, a decrease of 350,000 from the previous year.
According to the data, children accounted for 11.1% of Japan's total population, a decline of 0.2 percentage points from the previous year, marking new lows in both the number and proportion since comparable records began in 1950. Kyodo News reported that the declining birthrate in Japan has not been curbed, highlighting the increasingly severe issue of population aging.
By gender, there were 6.99 million boys and 6.66 million girls. Breaking the population into three-year age groups, the younger the age group, the fewer the children: 3.14 million children were aged 12 to 14, while only 2.22 million were aged 0 to 2.
According to statistics from October 1 last year, all 47 prefectures in Japan experienced a year-on-year decrease in the number of children, except for Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture, where the number of children exceeded 1 million.
Okinawa had the highest proportion of children relative to its population, at 15.8%, followed by Shiga and Saga Prefectures with 12.7%, and Kumamoto at 12.6%. Akita Prefecture had the lowest, at 8.8%.
The number of children in Japan peaked in 1954 at 29.89 million and has been decreasing since. Around the time of the second baby boom (1971–1974), there was a brief increase, but the number has continuously declined since 1982.
According to United Nations data, while estimation timelines differ, among the 37 countries with populations exceeding 40 million, Japan has the second-lowest proportion of children at 11.1%, only slightly higher than South Korea's 10.6%.