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BackJapan’s latest census: The total population has declined the most in history, only Tokyo has increased
Japan’s latest census: The total population has declined the most in history, only Tokyo has increased
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自由时报45 minutes agoWorld2 min readChinaView original

Japan’s latest census: The total population has declined the most in history, only Tokyo has increased

Japan CensusTokyoAging

Quick Look

  • Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announced the determined value of the 2025 census.
  • The total population decreased by 3.17 million compared with five years ago, a decrease of 2.5%, the largest in history.
  • Among the 47 prefectures, only Tokyo's population increased, with the proportion of the population aged 65 and over reaching a record high of 29.4%, and foreigners increased significantly by 39.8%.

AI-generated summary

Why It Matters

Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications regularly publishes national censuses to track population changes and social structure across the country. This survey is for 2025 data.

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Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announced the determined value of the 2025 National Census Survey (Census). As of October 1, 2025, Japan's total population was 122.972528 people, including 59.772092 males and 63.200436 females. Compared with the previous year in 2020, the total population decreased by 3.173571 people, a decrease of 2.5%. Surveys have shown decreases for three consecutive times since 2015, and this time the decrease is the largest in history.

Looking at prefectures, among the 47 prefectures, only Tokyo's population increased, with an increase of 189,000 people compared with the previous time. The remaining 46 prefectures all experienced a decrease in population. The largest decrease was in Hokkaido with 244,000 people, followed by Shizuoka Prefecture with 168,000 people and Hyogo Prefecture with 147,000 people.

The aging phenomenon also continues to intensify. In terms of age, the population over 65 years old reached 36.142 million, accounting for 29.4% of the total population, a record high. In addition, the average number of people per household is 2.1, the national average, which is also the lowest in history.

If the nationalities are distinguished, the number of Japanese is 119.132 million, a decrease of 4.267 million or 3.5% from the previous time. On the other hand, the number of foreigners is 3.84 million, an increase of 1.094 million from the previous time or a significant increase of 39.8%. This shows that while the total population of Japan is decreasing, the proportion of foreign population continues to increase.

Open Questions

  • What is the specific impact of the continued increase in the foreign population on Japanese society and the labor market?
  • What countermeasures will local governments take to deal with population outflow and reduction?

Related Topics

Japan Census
OrganizationsMinistry of Internal Affairs and Communications of JapanBloomberg
PlacesJapanTokyoHokkaidoShizuoka Prefecture
TopicsTokyoAgingMinistry of Internal Affairs and Communicationsforeignerpopulation decline
This article was originally published by 自由时报.

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