Japan's total fertility rate, or the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime, dropped to a record-low 1.15 in 2024.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said the headline figure was 0.05 percentage point lower than in 2023 and declined for the ninth consecutive year.

The number of births in Japan last year totaled 686,061, down about 40,000 from the year before and falling under 700,000 for the first time since record keeping began in 1899.

In 2023, the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research estimated that births in Japan were expected to drop below 700,000 in 2038, but the number became a reality 14 years earlier than forecast.

The ministry said none of Japan's 47 prefectures saw improvements in their respective fertility rates from 2023 figures.

The rate for Tokyo was the lowest at 0.96, slipping below 1 for a second year in a row, followed by Miyagi at 1.00 and Hokkaido at 1.01.

Meanwhile, the number of marriages in Japan increased by about 10,000 from 2023 to 485,063, up for the first time in two years.

There were 185,895 divorces in 2024, increasing for the second straight year.

Ministry officials attributed the drop in births to factors including a decrease in the youth population and the tendencies for people to marry and have children later in life.

They said Japan is in a critical situation in which the rapid decline in the birthrate is showing no signs of slowing down.

But as more people were getting married, the officials said they will monitor the trends because the numbers of marriages and births are closely linked with each other.