Japan's population falls to record low in 2022

By Anadolu Staff

ANKARA (AA) - Japan posted a record fall of over 0.5 million in its already dwindling population in 2022, marking a 12th straight year of decrease, official data showed on Wednesday.

The country's population shrank by 556,000 in 2022 from a year earlier to 124.9 million, as the number of Japanese nationals saw its largest drop on record, Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported, citing government data.

As of Oct. 1, the population, including foreign residents, stood at 124,947,000, with the number of Japanese nationals down 750,000 to 122,031,000, the largest margin of decline since comparable data were made available in 1950, the data said.

The alarming trend suggests an immediate need for Tokyo to establish a social system to cope with the dual challenge of a declining birthrate and an aging population.

All of Japan's 47 provinces except Tokyo logged a drop in the number of residents in the year to October last year, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

The population of Okinawa province, which comprises over 150 Islands, shrank by 0.01%, the first time it has fallen since its reversion to Japanese rule in 1972.

The country also recorded a drop in its working population, or people between 15 and 64, which has fallen by 296,000 to 74,208,000, accounting for 59.4% of the total population.

The percentage was on par with the record low from a year earlier.

Those 14 and below accounted for a new all-time low of 11.6% of the total population, while people 65 and over made up a record high of 29%, the data showed.

- Falling birth rate

Japan last year recorded the biggest fall in new births, with the number of babies dropping below 800,000 for the first time since records began in 1899, the Health Ministry data showed.

It is also the seventh consecutive year that the number of babies born in the country continued to fall.

The number of births was down 5.1% to 799,728, the data showed. “Excluding children born to foreign parents, the approximate number of births is estimated to be around 770,000.”

The number of deaths last year “hit a record high of 1,582,033, up 129,744.”

Since 1973, when the number of new births peaked at around 2.09 million, Japan has seen a decline in the number of new births.

A decade later, in 1984, Japan's new births had fallen to 1.5 million. In 2016, there were less than a million new babies.

Last January, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said his government will prioritize policies aimed at facilitating child-rearing, which is “the most effective investment for the future.”

Kishida warned the nation of around 126 million people, also grappling with an aging population, was “on the brink of losing its social function due to its rapidly declining birthrate.”​​​​​​​