Japan's child population falls for 41st year, record low amid pandemic

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 46%. (I'm a bot)

Japan's estimated child population fell for the 41st straight year to a record low, government data showed Wednesday, as women are believed to have refrained from having children due to the expanding coronavirus pandemic.

The ratio of children to Japan's overall population also fell to a record low of 11.7 percent, down 0.1 percentage point, the 48th straight year of decline.

Japan has the lowest such ratio among the 35 countries with a population of over 40 million, falling below Italy's 12.9 percent and South Korea's 11.9 percent, according to the U.N. Demographic Yearbook.

There were 3.23 million children between 12 and 14, compared with 2.51 million aged up to 2, reflecting the trend that the number falls as they become younger.

As of Oct. 1, all 47 of Japan's prefectures saw a decline in child population from the previous year, for the first time since 1999.

The child population in Japan peaked in 1954 at 29.89 million.

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