Births in First Half of 2026 Reached 342,068, Up 0.8% Year on Year; Deaths Down 6.9%, Natural Population Decline Shrinks by 60,000 (MHLW Preliminary Report)

Explanation

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare published the June figures of its preliminary vital statistics report on August 28, 2026.

The number of births in June alone was 59,846, up 1,545 (2.7%) from the same month the previous year. The number of deaths was 114,472, down 1,308 (1.1%). The natural change (births minus deaths) was −54,626.

For the cumulative total from January to June, births numbered 342,068, up 2,788 (0.8%) from the same period the previous year. Deaths numbered 778,982, down 57,836 (6.9%). The natural change was −436,914, an improvement of 60,624 from −497,538 in the same period the previous year. Marriages numbered 238,979 couples (+0.2%), and divorces numbered 90,177 couples (−3.8%).

For the one-year period from July 2025 to June 2026, births totaled 708,597 (−0.2%), deaths totaled 1,547,818 (−5.8%), and the natural change was −839,221. Marriages numbered 506,074 couples, up 3.3% from the previous year.

There are two points of caution when reading this data. First, the preliminary figures are based on the number of report forms created by municipalities and include foreign nationals in Japan as well as Japanese nationals abroad. This differs from the "number of Japanese births" (monthly approximate figures and finalized annual figures) commonly seen in the news, with the preliminary figures being larger. Second, the previous-year figures used for comparison are also preliminary, not finalized, figures.

The reason deaths decreased significantly compared to the previous year is not stated in this preliminary report.