The number of babies born in Japan fell to a record low of 720,988 in 2024 marking the ninth consecutive year of decline, the health ministry said on Thursday.

Births were down 5 per cent on the year, despite measures in 2023 by the government of Fumio Kishida, the former prime minister, to boost the rate. A record number of 1.62 million deaths meant that more than two people died for every new baby born.

The stark figures underscore the growing issue of a rapidly ageing and shrinking Japanese population.

Fertility rates in neighbouring South Korea rose for the first time in nine years in 2024 after the rollout of new measures encouraging young people to marry and have children, however, the trend is yet to spread to Japan.