Number of children in Japan falls again

The number of children aged 14 and under in Japan is the lowest since such data began being compiled in 1950.

The number of children in Japan has fallen for the 33rd-consecutive year to 16.33 million as of April 1.

It's down 0.1 per cent from the same time a year earlier, the government says, as it struggles to raise the declining birth rate.

The number of those aged 14 and under was the lowest since the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications started compiling such data in 1950.

Children in Japan constituted 12.8 per cent of the population, the lowest percentage among 30 countries with populations of at least 40 million, the ministry said on Sunday.

In 1950, children made up 35.4 per cent of the country's population.

The ministry's report was released ahead of the Children's Day national holiday on Monday.