The number of Japanese people living in the country has fallen below 120 million for the first time in 42 years, government data showed on Wednesday (Jul 29), as the nation confronts a low birth rate and an ageing society.
As of Jan 1, the population of Japanese residents in Japan stood at 119.74 million, down 0.76 per cent from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
The population of Japanese residents has been declining for 17 consecutive years since peaking in 2009, according to the survey, which began in 1968.
However, the population of foreign residents living in Japan reached its highest level since record-keeping began in 2013, according to the ministry.
Including them, the total population stands at 123.8 million.
With a median age of 49.9 years, Japan has the second-oldest population in the world after Monaco, according to the World Bank.
Data in June showed that Japan’s fertility rate fell again last year to a new record low, underscoring the demographic crisis gnawing at the world’s fourth-largest economy.
The slow-burning emergency is already 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.
