By TAKURO CHIBA/ Staff Writer
April 13, 2024 at 17:54 JST
Senior citizens in Nagasaki having some fun (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
For the first time in Japan’s history, the number of seniors aged 75 and older topped 20 million.
On April 12, the internal affairs ministry released population estimates as of Oct. 1, 2023.
It said the total population came to 124,352,000, a decrease of 595,000 over the previous year. The figure marked the 13th straight year of population decrease. It was also the second largest drop behind that for 2021.
For the 12th straight year, the number of Japanese dropped. There were 121,193,000 Japanese, a decrease of 837,000, a record.
The number of foreign nationals living in Japan came to 3,159,000, an increase of 243,000. It was the second straight year of increase in foreign residence figures.
Those 75 and older increased by 713,000 to 20,078,000. The figure exceeded 20 million for the first time since comparable records began in 1950. Seniors 75 and older made up 16.1 percent of the total population, a record level.
The postwar baby boom generation born between 1947 and 1949 began surpassing the age of 75 from 2022, accelerating the graying of the population.
On the other hand, there was a record low of 14,173,000 children under 15. Children made up only 11.4 percent of the total population, also a record low.
The working age generation of those between 15 and 64 was 73,952,000, a decrease of 256,000. This decreasing trend is expected to continue over the medium- to long-term because of the small number in the age cohort sandwiched between the baby boomer generation and their children born between 1971 and 1974. That age cohort is now reaching 65.
Tokyo was the only one of the 47 prefectures to record a population increase, a paltry 0.34 percent, to give it a total of 14,086,000. It marked the second straight year of population increase, reverting to the trend of people moving to the capital.
Tokyo’s population dropped during the pandemic as people moved to rural areas.
Okinawa Prefecture, which in 2023 marked the first decrease in population since 1972 when it reverted to Japanese sovereignty, again recorded a population decline.
Population falls with drops in every prefecture for the first time
July 26, 2023
10% of Japan’s population aged 80 or older for first time
September 17, 2023
Japan’s population drops by largest figure since 1950
April 16, 2022
Population in Japan drops for 12th straight year to 124,947,000
April 12, 2023
A peek through the music industry’s curtain at the producers who harnessed social media to help their idols go global.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II
