According to Japan’s health ministry estimates, the country’s population declined by a record 244,000 people in 2013.
The ministry said an estimated 1,031,000 babies were born last year – down some 6,000 from the previous year.
Meanwhile, the number of people that died last year was 1,275,000 – a rise of around 19,000 from 2012.
Japan’s population has been shrinking for several years now. If current trends persist it will lose a third of its population in the next 50 years.
A quarter of Japan’s population is currently aged over 65 and that figure is expected to reach nearly 40% by 2060.
The government says the population totaled 126,393,679 as of March 31st 2013 – down 0.2% from a year earlier.
Japan has taken aggressive measures in recent months to spur growth in the world’s third-biggest economy, after years of stagnation.
Shinzo Abe’s government is trying to boost the economy through a combination of quantitative easing and cash injections, higher taxes, higher government spending and longer-term structural reforms.
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