Total fertility rate of Japan 1800-2020

The fertility rate of a country is the average number of children that women from that country will have throughout their reproductive years. From 1800 until 1865, Japan's fertility rate grew quite gradually, from 4.1 children per woman, to 4.8. From this point the fertility rate drops to 3.6 over the next ten years, as Japan became more industrialized. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Japan's fertility rate grew again, and reached it's highest recorded point in the early 1920s, where it was 5.4 children per woman. Since this point it has been gradually decreasing until now, although it did experience slight increases after the Second World War, and in the early 1970s. In recent decades Japan's population has aged extensively, and today, Japan has the second oldest population and second highest life expectancy in the world (after Monaco). In contrast to this, Japan has a very low birth rate, and it's fertility rate is expected to fall below 1.4 children per woman in 2020.

一国之生育率，系指该国女性在其生育年限内平均所生育子女的数量。自1800年至1865年，日本之生育率逐渐上升，由每位女性平均生育4.1名子女增长至4.8名。自此点起，生育率在接下来的十年间降至3.6。至19世纪末，日本生育率再次上升，并在20世纪初期达到历史最高记录，即每位女性平均生育5.4名子女。自此之后，生育率逐渐下降，直至如今。尽管在二战之后及20世纪70年代初，生育率略有上升，但总体而言，生育率持续降低。近几十年来，日本人口老龄化严重，现已成为世界上第二长寿的国家，仅次于摩纳哥。与此形成鲜明对比的是，日本的出生率极低，预计到2020年，其生育率将降至每位女性平均生育1.4名子女以下。