Japan saw fewer than 400,000 births in Jan.-June, 1st in 22 yrs given COVID

Sep 20 (Kyodo) - The number of babies born in Japan and to Japanese expatriates in the January to June period fell 5.0 percent from a year earlier to fewer than 400,000 for the first time since 2000, amid the lingering impact of the coronavirus pandemic, recent government data showed.

The number of births in the period suggests that the annual total in the world's third-largest economy is on track to drop below last year's 811,604 and under 800,000 for the first time since the government started compiling the data in 1899.

In the first six months of the year, 384,942 babies were born, down 20,087 from the same period last year, according to the preliminary data released by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on Sept. 4. ...continue reading

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