Children and teachers walk past an electronic screen displaying Japan's Nikkei share average outside a brokerage in Tokyo on March 4, 2024. Photo: Reuters
The child population, down 350,000 from a year earlier, again fell to the lowest level since 1950, when data comparable under the current format started. The ministry's announcement preceded Children's Day on Tuesday.
The population stood at 6.81 million for boys and 6.48 million for girls. The share of children in the country's total population fell 0.3 percentage point to 10.8 pct, dropping for the 52nd consecutive year to rewrite its record low again.
The proportion is the second lowest among 38 countries with total populations exceeding 40 million, only behind South Korea's 10.2 pct, based on data adopting a different survey period. Japan was followed by Italy at 11.7 pct and by Spain at 12.6 pct.
Of the child population in Japan, 3.09 million were aged between 12 and 14, 2.96 million between 9 and 11, 2.68 million between 6 and 8, 2.43 million between 3 and 5, and 2.13 million between zero and 2.
The estimates are based on the results of the 2020 census.
The population of children by prefecture, based on the results of the 2025 census, will be announced later.
Max: 1500 characters
There are no comments yet. Be the first to comment.