Fri 15 April 2022:
Population in Japan fell by a record 644,000 people last year, to 125.5 million people, including foreigners permanently resident in the country, according to the Statistics Bureau of Japan’s Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry.
According to the bureau’s study, population declined in 46 of 47 prefectures, with only the southernmost Okinawa prefecture indicating growth.
Tokyo, on the other hand, had its population dip for the first time in 26 years, falling by 40,000 people to a total of 14 million. Negative population growth is attributed to low numbers of immigrants entering the nation and poor flows of people relocating from neighboring regions to Tokyo, according to the government.
Compared to the previous year, the country-wide decrease amounted to 644,000 people, or 0.51%. The population of Japan has been shrinking for 11 consecutive years, but this year’s fall is the greatest both in absolute numbers and in percentage terms.
According to statistics, the problem of an aging population has not improved. The proportion of people aged 65 and more is at an all-time high of 28.9% (36.21 million people). Meanwhile, children under the age of 15 make up only 11.8 percent of the population, or 14.78 million people, the lowest share in history; individuals aged 15 to 64 make up 59.4 percent of the population.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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