Japan birth & fertility rate charts by year

Fertility rate in Japan chart

According to the latest birth rate data available, the fertility rate in Japan was 1.2 in 2023 and has been below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman since 1974. In 1993, the fertility rate was 1.46 — a -17.8% decline in 30 years.

Check population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases the historical changes in birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Japan	World
1960	2	4.69
1961	1.96	4.56
1962	1.98	5.02
1963	2	5.31
1964	2.05	5.13
1965	2.14	5.08
1966	1.58	4.97
1967	2.23	4.87
1968	2.13	4.98
1969	2.13	4.88
1970	2.13	4.84
1971	2.16	4.69
1972	2.14	4.55
1973	2.14	4.42
1974	2.05	4.26
1975	1.91	4.07
1976	1.85	3.97
1977	1.8	3.84
1978	1.79	3.77
1979	1.77	3.76
1980	1.75	3.73
1981	1.74	3.71
1982	1.77	3.72
1983	1.8	3.59
1984	1.81	3.57
1985	1.76	3.53
1986	1.72	3.51
1987	1.69	3.48
1988	1.66	3.39
1989	1.57	3.35
1990	1.54	3.31
1991	1.53	3.13
1992	1.5	3.04
1993	1.46	2.97
1994	1.5	2.92
1995	1.42	2.87
1996	1.43	2.82
1997	1.39	2.78
1998	1.38	2.75
1999	1.34	2.72
2000	1.36	2.73
2001	1.33	2.69
2002	1.32	2.66
2003	1.29	2.64
2004	1.29	2.63
2005	1.26	2.61
2006	1.32	2.61
2007	1.34	2.6
2008	1.37	2.6
2009	1.37	2.59
2010	1.39	2.57
2011	1.39	2.55
2012	1.41	2.56
2013	1.43	2.53
2014	1.42	2.52
2015	1.45	2.49
2016	1.44	2.49
2017	1.43	2.46
2018	1.42	2.39
2019	1.36	2.35
2020	1.33	2.28
2021	1.3	2.25
2022	1.26	2.22
2023	1.2	2.2
2024	1.21	2.19
2025	1.22	2.18
2026	1.22	2.18
2027	1.23	2.17
2028	1.24	2.16
2029	1.25	2.15
2030	1.25	2.14
2031	1.26	2.13
2032	1.26	2.12
2033	1.27	2.12
2034	1.28	2.11
2035	1.28	2.1
2036	1.29	2.09
2037	1.29	2.09
2038	1.3	2.08
2039	1.3	2.08
2040	1.3	2.08
2041	1.31	2.07
2042	1.31	2.07
2043	1.31	2.07
2044	1.32	2.07
2045	1.32	2.06
2046	1.33	2.06
2047	1.33	2.06
2048	1.33	2.05
2049	1.34	2.05
2050	1.34	2.05

Birth rates by women ages chart

In 2025, of all live births 0.57% were to women under 20 years old, 32.8% to women ages 20-29, and 66.7% to women ages 30 and above. In comparison, the percentages in 1990 were 1.5%, 60.4%, and 38.1% for the same age groups respectively. A chart displaying the historical birth rates in Japan by maternal age is provided below.

Annual births per 1,000 women ages

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Children 0-14 as share of population
	Japan	World
1960	29.8%	37.4%
1961	29.1%	37.5%
1962	28%	37.6%
1963	26.8%	37.8%
1964	25.8%	38%
1965	25.1%	38%
1966	24.4%	38%
1967	23.8%	38%
1968	23.5%	37.9%
1969	23.4%	37.8%
1970	23.3%	37.7%
1971	23.3%	37.6%
1972	23.4%	37.5%
1973	23.6%	37.3%
1974	23.8%	37.2%
1975	23.8%	37.1%
1976	23.9%	36.9%
1977	23.9%	36.7%
1978	23.8%	36.3%
1979	23.7%	35.9%
1980	23.4%	35.5%
1981	23.3%	35.2%
1982	23.1%	34.9%
1983	22.6%	34.6%
1984	22.2%	34.3%
1985	21.7%	34%
1986	21%	33.8%
1987	20.3%	33.6%
1988	19.5%	33.4%
1989	18.8%	33.2%
1990	18%	33%
1991	17.4%	32.9%
1992	16.9%	32.7%
1993	16.4%	32.5%
1994	16%	32.3%
1995	15.6%	32.1%
1996	15.3%	31.8%
1997	15.1%	31.5%
1998	14.8%	31.1%
1999	14.6%	30.8%
2000	14.4%	30.4%
2001	14.2%	30%
2002	14.1%	29.6%
2003	13.9%	29.2%
2004	13.8%	28.8%
2005	13.8%	28.5%
2006	13.7%	28.1%
2007	13.6%	27.9%
2008	13.5%	27.6%
2009	13.5%	27.5%
2010	13.4%	27.3%
2011	13.3%	27.1%
2012	13.2%	27%
2013	13.1%	26.9%
2014	13%	26.8%
2015	12.8%	26.6%
2016	12.7%	26.5%
2017	12.6%	26.4%
2018	12.5%	26.2%
2019	12.4%	26%
2020	12.2%	25.8%
2021	12%	25.6%
2022	11.9%	25.3%
2023	11.6%	25%
2024	11.4%	24.7%
2025	11.2%	24.4%
2026	11%	24.1%
2027	10.9%	23.8%
2028	10.7%	23.4%
2029	10.5%	23.1%
2030	10.4%	22.8%
2031	10.3%	22.6%
2032	10.2%	22.3%
2033	10.1%	22.1%
2034	10.1%	21.9%
2035	10.1%	21.7%
2036	10.1%	21.6%
2037	10.1%	21.5%
2038	10.2%	21.4%
2039	10.3%	21.3%
2040	10.4%	21.2%
2041	10.5%	21.1%
2042	10.6%	21%
2043	10.7%	21%
2044	10.8%	20.9%
2045	10.9%	20.8%
2046	11%	20.7%
2047	11.1%	20.7%
2048	11.2%	20.6%
2049	11.2%	20.5%
2050	11.2%	20.4%

The share of children aged 0-14 in Japan was 29.8% in 1960, 16.4% in 1993, and 11.4% as of the latest data in 2025.

More about the demographics of Japan.

Natural population change by year

For the past 10 years, the natural population change in Japan, excluding migration, has been -0.41% annually. On average, -517,883 more people died each year than were born.

Table

Year	Population change due to births and deaths
	Japan
1960	894,874
1961	893,522
1962	901,864
1963	987,770
1964	1,046,553
1965	1,126,448
1966	682,072
1967	1,258,475
1968	1,191,930
1969	1,195,962
1970	1,230,496
1971	1,331,782
1972	1,372,006
1973	1,391,449
1974	1,332,960
1975	1,204,989
1976	1,127,750
1977	1,070,397
1978	1,011,234
1979	950,298
1980	864,372
1981	811,861
1982	805,664
1983	775,495
1984	756,523
1985	676,687
1986	631,706
1987	598,138
1988	527,085
1989	467,662
1990	407,478
1991	396,685
1992	360,833
1993	312,073
1994	363,017
1995	276,039
1996	314,392
1997	277,325
1998	265,440
1999	202,610
2000	228,317
2001	203,438
2002	178,423
2003	114,946
2004	76,656
2005	-25,554
2006	12,785
2007	-25,600
2008	-51,225
2009	-76,828
2010	-128,070
2011	-204,533
2012	-229,733
2013	-242,146
2014	-267,279
2015	-292,424
2016	-343,106
2017	-406,310
2018	-456,520
2019	-531,858
2020	-542,923
2021	-640,976
2022	-825,825
2023	-871,617

Maternal mortality chart

The maternal mortality rate in Japan was 3 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2023 — a 0.003% chance of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination. This is a -66.7% decrease compared to the year 2000.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Japan	World
1985	19	460
1986	18	438
1987	17	429
1988	16	414
1989	15	401
1990	14	391
1991	13	395
1992	13	395
1993	12	389
1994	11	382
1995	11	371
1996	11	366
1997	10	358
1998	10	360
1999	9	340
2000	9	328
2001	8	321
2002	8	311
2003	8	301
2004	7	291
2005	7	283
2006	7	276
2007	6	269
2008	6	264
2009	6	258
2010	6	253
2011	6	247
2012	6	239
2013	5	235
2014	5	231
2015	5	228
2016	5	220
2017	5	215
2018	5	211
2019	5	207
2020	4	211
2021	4	242
2022	5	203
2023	3	197

Under-five mortality rate chart

The under-5 mortality rate in Japan was 2.4 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2023 — a 0.24% chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five. This is down from 4.5 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2000.

Table

Year	Mortality rate before reaching 5 years of age, per 1,000 live births
	Japan	World
1960	3.97%	18.5%
1961	3.62%	18.1%
1962	3.29%	17.8%
1963	2.98%	17.5%
1964	2.7%	17.7%
1965	2.46%	17.5%
1966	2.26%	17.3%
1967	2.1%	17%
1968	1.96%	16.5%
1969	1.85%	15.5%
1970	1.75%	15.2%
1971	1.65%	15.1%
1972	1.57%	14.4%
1973	1.49%	14.1%
1974	1.41%	13.7%
1975	1.33%	13.4%
1976	1.25%	13%
1977	1.18%	12.5%
1978	1.11%	12.1%
1979	1.05%	11.7%
1980	0.99%	11.4%
1981	0.93%	11%
1982	0.88%	10.8%
1983	0.83%	10.6%
1984	0.79%	10.4%
1985	0.75%	10.1%
1986	0.71%	9.81%
1987	0.68%	9.47%
1988	0.66%	9.31%
1989	0.64%	9.02%
1990	0.63%	8.81%
1991	0.62%	8.66%
1992	0.61%	8.46%
1993	0.6%	8.19%
1994	0.59%	7.98%
1995	0.57%	7.76%
1996	0.55%	7.52%
1997	0.52%	7.28%
1998	0.5%	7.05%
1999	0.47%	6.76%
2000	0.45%	6.48%
2001	0.43%	6.21%
2002	0.41%	5.94%
2003	0.4%	5.65%
2004	0.39%	5.43%
2005	0.37%	5.16%
2006	0.36%	4.92%
2007	0.35%	4.7%
2008	0.34%	4.5%
2009	0.34%	4.31%
2010	0.33%	4.11%
2011	0.33%	3.97%
2012	0.31%	3.77%
2013	0.3%	3.61%
2014	0.29%	3.48%
2015	0.28%	3.35%
2016	0.27%	3.23%
2017	0.26%	3.11%
2018	0.25%	2.97%
2019	0.25%	2.86%
2020	0.24%	2.75%
2021	0.24%	2.66%
2022	0.24%	2.59%
2023	0.24%	2.49%