Japan Population 2024

February 6, 2024 by Babji

Japan is an island country in East Asia lies in the eastern coast of the Eurasian continent in the northern hemisphere (Code: JPN). According to estat, Japan population in 2024 is estimated to be 122.8 million, Its population may be shrinking faster than expected, the number of babies born in 2022 is below last year record low of the total of 599,636 Japanese born in January-September was 4.9% below of of 811,000 babies in 2021. Is in rapid decline and ranking eleventh in the world. Japan living costs are high, wage increases have been slow but it is the third biggest economy of the world. It consists of the main islands of Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and Okinawa, and more than 6,800 smaller islands of varying sizes. It has an area of approximately 380,000 sq km with the population density of 334 per sq km. As per the provincial June 2021 estimates 61 million are male and 64 million are female, 11.9 percent of the population are under 15 years of age, 59.2 percent are between 15 to 64 years, 29 percent are 65 and over, out of these 14.9 percent are 75 years and above and 5.1 percent are 85 years and over. one-third of the Japanese population is over 65 years, out of these 31.9 percent are women who aged 65 years and over compared to 25.9 percent of men. Average life expectancy in Japan improved after second world war, and by 2015 is at the highest level in the world with the life expectancy at birth was 87.1 years for women and 80.8 years for men. Currently Japan is 11th populated country in the world after Mexico.

Population Indicators
Birth Rate	7.8
Infant Mortality	2.0
Fertility Rate	1.4
Death Rate	10.5
Population Above 60	32%
Life Expectancy (M)	81
Life Expectancy (F)	87

Japan Population Indicators
Birth rate is 7.8 births/1000 people in 2016. Infant Mortality is 2.0/1000 live births in 2016. Fertility rate is 1.4 births per woman in 2017. Death rate is 10.5 deaths/1000 people in 2016. Population above 60 years is 32% in 2015. Life expectancy for male is 81, and for female is 87.

Income Distribution

The Japan economy is the third largest in the world as measured by nominal GDP in 2022. During the 1960s, Japan's economy grew at a rapid pace of over 10 percent per annum. This rapid economic growth was supported by private investments, abundant labour force supplied by a high rate of population growth, increase in productivity by adopting and improving foreign technologies. By 1970s, there was a sharp increase of exports of industrial products to the U.S.A. and European countries. By 2016 there were 5.4 million establishments, in Japan, at which a total of 58 million persons were employed. Below table demonstrates the Employment by Occupation(working in different work sector categories). Japan population in 2023 is estimated to be 123.3 million, population in 2022 is estimated to be 125.47 million, and in 2021 is estimated to be 125.63 million.

Type of Job	Workers
Total	58,919,036
Administrative Workers	1,394,894
Professional & Technical	9,380,461
Office work	11,206,028
Sales	7,410,702
Service Worker	6,856,820
Security Worker	1,086,118
Agriculture and forestry fishery	2,145,116
Production process	7,960,081
Transport & Driving	2,009,402
Construction & Mining	2,591,087
Packaging	3,897,093
Others	2,981,234

Japan's agricultural, forestry and fishing industries is slowing rapidly year by year and the GDP Share is dropped. The number of workers decreased from 13.40 million in 1960 (30.2 percent of the total workforce) to 2.28 million in 2015 (3.6 percent), and the GDP share of the industries fell from 12.8 percent in 1960 to 1.1 percent in 2015.

Source: population.un.org/wpp/, 1950 to 2070 Japan Population, UN estimates.
Tokyo is the capital of Japan and its urban agglomeration is the most populous city in the world. In 2015, Tokyo Metropolis had the largest population of 13.52 million among Japan's 47 districts, followed in decreasing order by the districts of Kanagawa, Osaka, Aichi, and Saitama. the population density in Tokyo Metropolis was the highest among Japan's districts at 6,168.7 persons per sq km. which was 18.1 times the national average of 342 persons per sq km. These five districts each had a population of seven million or more, and together accounted for 36.4 percent of the total population.

Cities	Population in 2010(Millions)	Population in 2015(Millions)
Tokyo	8.946	9.273
Yokohama	3.689	3.725
Osaka	2.665	2.691
Nagoya	2.264	2.296
Sapporo	1.914	1.952
Fukuoka	1.464	1.539
Kobe	1.544	1.537
Kawasaki	1.426	1.475
Kyoto	1.474	1.475
Saitama	1.222	1.264
Hiroshima	1.174	1.194
Sendai	1.046	1.082

History of Japan

From the eighteenth century through the first half of the nineteenth century, Japan's population was around 30 million. In 1926, it reached the population 60 million, and in 40 years by 1967, it surpassed the 100 million mark. However, there was slow in growth rate in the recent years, with the rate of population change about one percent from the 1960s through the 1970s.

Since from 1980s, the growth rate has declined sharply. Japan practices census for every 5 years starting from 1920. from 1990 the growth rate rapidly declined from 2.07 to -0.75. Japan's total population was 127.09 million according to the Population Census in 2015. This was a decrease by 962,607 people as compared to the previous Census (2010), indicating the first population decline since the initiation of the Population Census in 1920. In 2016, it was 126.93 million, down by 162,000 from the year before.

Year	Population Nationwide	City Population	County side	City Percent	County Percent
1920	55,963,053	10,096,758	45,866,295	18.0	82.0
1925	59,736,822	12,896,850	46,839,972	21.6	78.4
1930	64,450,005	15,444,300	49,005,705	24.0	76.0
1935	69,254,148	22,666,307	46,587,841	32.7	67.3
1940	73,114,308	27,577,539	45,536,769	37.7	62.3
1945	71,998,104	20,022,333	51,975,771	27.8	72.2
1947	78,101,473	25,857,739	52,243,734	33.1	66.9
1950	84,114,574	31,365,523	52,749,051	37.3	62.7
1955	90,076,594	50,532,410	39,544,184	56.1	43.9
1960	94,301,623	59,677,885	34,622,465	63.3	36.7
1965	99,209,137	67,356,158	31,852,979	67.9	32.1
1970	104,665,171	75,428,660	29,236,511	72.1	27.9
1975	111,939,643	84,967,269	26,972,374	75.9	24.1
1980	117,060,396	89,187,409	27,872,987	76.2	23.8
1985	121,048,923	92,889,236	28,159,687	76.7	23.3
1990	123,611,167	95,643,521	27,967,646	77.4	22.6
1995	125,570,246	98,009,107	27,561,139	78.1	21.9
2000	126,925,843	99,865,289	27,060,554	78.7	21.3
2005	127,767,994	110,264,324	17,503,670	86.3	13.7
2010	128,057,352	116,549,098	11,508,254	91.0	9.0
2015	127,094,745	116,137,232	10,957,513	91.4	8.6

Population Projection

Japan population is 125 million by year 2020 estimates, By 2016 the total fertility rate reached 1.44 was on a downward trend after dipping below 2.00 in 1975, It marked a record low of 1.26 in 2005 and started to increase after that. The declining of birth rate may have certain reasons partly attributable to the rising maternal age at childbirth(Advanced Maternal Age). For instance in 1970, the average mothers' age at first childbirth is 25.6 years and in 2016 it rose to 30.7 years. The mean age of first marriage was 31.1 for men and 29.4 for women in 2016. Over the past 20 years, the mean age of first marriage for men rose by 2.6 years, while that of women rose by 3.0 years. In 1996: grooms mean age were 28.5 years, brides mean age was 26.4 years. In addition, by 2015 there has been an increasing trend in the percentage of lifetime non-marriages, reaching 14.1 percent for females and 23.4 percent for males which is the highest percentages. The raising marriage age, declining marriage rate and increased choice of unmarried life in recent years as described above is one explanation for the dropping birth rate. The death rate reached 10.5 in 2016 (per 1,000 population) was steady at 6.0 - 6.3 between 1975 and 1987, and maintained an uptrend since 1988, reflecting the aging of the population.

Year	Birth Rate per 1000	Death Rate per 1000	Infant Mortality	Natural Change	Total Fertility	Life Exp. Males	Life Exp. Females
1950	28.1	10.9	60.1	17.2	3.65	59.57	62.97
1955	19.4	7.8	39.8	11.6	2.37	63.60	67.75
1960	17.2	7.6	30.7	9.6	2.00	65.32	70.19
1965	18.6	7.1	18.5	11.4	2.14	67.74	72.92
1970	18.8	6.9	13.1	11.8	2.13	69.31	74.66
1975	17.1	6.3	10.0	10.8	1.91	71.73	76.89
1980	13.6	6.2	7.5	7.3	1.75	73.35	78.76
1985	11.9	6.3	5.5	5.6	1.76	74.78	80.48
1990	10.0	6.7	4.6	3.3	1.54	75.92	81.90
1995	9.6	7.4	4.3	2.1	1.42	76.38	82.85
2000	9.5	7.7	3.2	1.8	1.36	77.72	84.60
2005	8.4	8.6	2.8	-0.2	1.26	78.56	85.52
2010	8.5	9.5	2.3	-1.0	1.39	79.55	86.30
2015	8.0	10.3	1.9	-2.3	1.45	80.79	87.05
2016	7.8	10.5	2.0	-2.6	1.44	-	-

Source: Japan Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

According to National Institute of Population and Social Research, Based on the medium-fertility projection, Japan is expected to enter a long period of population decline. The population is expected to decrease to around 110.92 million by 2040, fall below 100 million to 99.24 million in 2053, and drop to 88.08 million by 2065. The main reasons are related to delayed marriage, delayed childbearing, and changes in the reproductive behavior of couples affect the completed number of births from married couples.
The life expectancy of Japanese people and old age population trends, which was 80.75 years for men and 86.98 years for women in 2015, is expected to grow to 83.27 years for men and 89.63 years for women in 2040, and 84.95 years for men and 91.35 years for women in 2065.