TOKYO(National Times)- Japan’s fertility rate fell again last year to a new record low, official data showed on Wednesday, underscoring the demographic crisis gnawing at the world’s fourth-largest economy.

Japan has one of the world’s lowest birth rates, as well as a falling and ageing population, leading to labour shortages, a ballooning social security bill and a shrinking tax base.

Government figures showed the total fertility rate — the average number of children a woman is expected to have during her lifetime — dropped by 0.01 from a year earlier to 1.14, the 10th straight year of decline.

The number of babies born in the country fell by nearly 15,000 to just over 670,000, the lowest figure since records began in 1899. The figures follow preliminary data released in February, which showed around 706,000 births but included non-Japanese babies born in the country and Japanese citizens born abroad.

The trend shows the pace at which new births are decreasing is as many as 15 years faster than recent predictions made by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, according to local media.

In 2023, the institute estimated that it would not be until 2040 that the annual number of births would slip below the 680,000 mark, broadcaster NHK said.