Japanese Population Falls for 10th Straight Year

July 10, 2019

Tokyo- The number of Japanese people living in Japan as of Jan. 1 fell by 433,239, or 0.35 pct, from a year before to 124,776,364, down for the 10th straight year, the government said Wednesday.

The decline was largest ever in terms of both number and percentage, according to data released by the internal affairs ministry. Figures are based on data in the country's resident registry system.

Populations grew in only five of the country's 47 prefectures.

Aichi Prefecture saw its population fall by 4,719, logging its first drop since the current statistics began in 1968. The central Japan prefecture includes Nagoya, a huge city.

The combined population in the three most populous areas of greater Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka fell by 13,547, marking the first fall since the start of comparable data in 1975.

Population growth in the Tokyo area, which also includes Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures, was offset by declines in the Nagoya and Osaka areas. The Nagoya area is composed of Aichi, Gifu and Mie prefectures, while the Osaka area in western Japan covers Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo and Nara prefectures.

Populations rose in Tokyo and the remaining three prefectures in the metropolitan area. The southernmost prefecture of Okinawa was the only one to mark a natural population increase.

Akita Prefecture incurred the biggest population fall of 1.48 pct, followed by Aomori Prefecture with 1.28 pct and Iwate Prefecture with 1.17 pct. The three are in the Tohoku northeastern region.

The ministry also said that populations declined in 1,499 of the country's 1,747 municipalities.

The number of Japanese people aged between 15 and 64, or the working-age population, stood at 74,230,887, accounting for 59.49 pct of the total population. The share kept falling consistently from 69.65 pct in 1994, when the ministry started taking the data.

The number of foreign residents rose by 169,543, or 6.79 pct, to a record 2,667,199.

Foreign resident populations grew in all 47 prefectures. Shimane saw the largest increase of 15.42 pct, Kagoshima came second with 15.22 pct and Kumamoto third with 14.17 pct.

The number of foreign residents is expected to grow further in Japan, which introduced new visa categories in April to accept more foreign workers to help resolve labor shortages in many industries.

Japan's total population, including foreign residents, declined by 263,696, or 0.21 pct, to 127,443,563. The proportion of foreign residents was highest at 4.01 pct in Tokyo, followed by Aichi at 3.35 pct and Gunma at 2.86 pct. Jiji Press