Population in Japan Keeps on Declining

Demographic shrink of Japan is accelerated. According to the survey of Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication (MIC), based on the Basic Resident Register, population of the Japanese on January 1st this year was 121,561,801, declining by record high of 861,237 from last year. Although Fumio Kishida administration has been delivering policies for raising birth rate, they are not working well. The survey showed that foreign immigrants have slowed the decrease down, but demographical centralization is also accelerated.

The population of Japan decreased by 0.7 percent. Both number and ratio of decrease were the biggest, since the ministry began the survey in 1968. It kept on decreasing for fifteen consecutive years. The population of Japan was at the peak in 2009, when it marked 127,076,183. It declined by 5,514,382 in these fifteen years.

 

New births in 2023 were 729,367, marking the lowest since 1979. The total deaths were 1,579,727, renewing the highest record. “Natural decline,” the margin between new births and total deaths, was 850,360. “Social decline,” the margin between immigrants and emigrants, was 10,877. Social decline occurred for two consecutive years.

 

Registered foreigners in Japan was 3,323,374, marking increase by 329,535 or 11.01 percent. The number of increase exceeded 300 thousand for the first time, since the ministry started to count it in 2013. As explosive infection of COVID-19 was ceased, foreign residents increased in every prefecture. Foreigners largely increased in Tokyo by 66,304, and in Kumamoto, in terms ratio, with 24.18 percent, followed by 24.14 percent of Hokkaido and 23.33 percent in Saga. Total population of Japan, adding foreigners to the Japanese, was 124,885,175.

 

Demographic tendency of centralization still persist. Among forty-seven prefectures, only Tokyo marked increase of the Japanese by 0.03 percent. Rest of the prefectures, such as Akita with decline of 1.83 percent, Aomori with 1.72 percent or Iwate with 1.61 percent, reduced Japanese residents. Inflow of people in each of six urban prefectures, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Osaka and Fukuoka, exceeded outflow of them.

 

The urban municipality which marked the biggest gain of Japanese residents in 2023 was Taito-city, Tokyo. Urban area has been developed for better housing recent years. Some towns out of urban area also increased population with original policies for supporting new-comers with allowance for the family with kids or better transportation for commuting to urban offices. There is an argument whether competition between municipalities over collecting residents is appropriate or not.

 

Aging of Japanese population is still ongoing. The people in 65 years old or older marked 35,711,738. It went back to the increasing trend, even though it marked decrease for the first time in the previous year. The productive age, which is between 15 and 64, was 71,741,119. It has kept on decreasing from 1994, except 1995. 14-year-old people or younger were 14,108,935, marking decline for thirteen consecutive years.

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