Reference Message Network reported on May 6th according to a report by Kyodo News on May 4th, before the Boy's Day in Japan, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announced data saying that the number of children aged under 15 (as of April 1st) including foreigners was 13,660,000, decreasing by 350,000 compared with the previous year, which marked the 44th consecutive year of decline.

Since there have been comparable data since 1950, this is the first time that the number of Japanese children has fallen below 14 million, setting a new record low. The proportion of children in the total population also set a new record low, decreasing by 0.2 percentage points to 11.1%. The continuous decline in birth numbers highlights the aggravation of the problem of an aging society and a declining birthrate in Japan.

In terms of specific numbers, there are about 7 million boys and 6.66 million girls. By comparing every three-year age groups, the younger the age group, the fewer the number of people; there are 3,140,000 children aged from 12 to 14, while only 2,220,000 children aged from 0 to 2.

Although detailed data for each prefecture as of April have not been calculated, according to statistics as of October 1st last year, the number of children in all 47 prefectures decreased compared to the previous year. Only Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture had more than one million children.

The highest proportion of children in the total population is in Okinawa Prefecture, at 15.8%. The lowest proportion is in Akita Prefecture, at 8.8%.

The number of Japanese children began to decrease after reaching a peak of 29,890,000 in 1954. It increased during the period around the second baby boom (1971-1974), but has been continuously decreasing since 1982.

The proportion of children in the population has also been continuously decreasing since 1975.

Data from the United Nations show that among the 37 countries with populations exceeding 40 million, South Korea has the lowest proportion of children in its population, at 10.6%; Japan ranks second to South Korea.

(Translated by Liu Jieqiu)

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7501172522755392036/

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