Birth rate in Japan increased

Birth rate decline and aging population cause great concern for Japan (Photo: sso-chemnitz) Nearly 550,000 babies were born in the first six months of the year, an increase of 11,600 over the same period last year. Ây This is good news for Japan, which has witnessed the lowest birth rate in history last year.

Currently the country needs a fertility rate of 2.1 to remain stable.

The declining fertility rate and aging population are of great concern to Japan, and the government recently introduced many measures to encourage women to have more children.

The Ministry of Health official, Sayuri Narahara, told AP that the recent increase in fertility may be due to increased economic growth and employment.

The ministry also recorded an increase in the number of marriage registrations in the first half of this year, an increase of 10,936 pairs over the same period last year.

Despite the good news, Ryuichi Kaneko, a researcher, said cautiously: " We cannot conclude with just these results and say birth rates have ceased," he told Kyodo news agency. "We have to follow changes for at least a year before we can conclude."