Japan's population plummeted by 640,000 in 2021, records biggest drop

Japan's population declined by 644,000 to slightly over 125.5 million in 2021, according to figures provided on Friday by the country's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. This was the largest reduction since comparable statistics to analyse population drops and growth were available in 1950.

The working population in Japan (those aged 15 to 64) fell by 584,000 to 74,504,000. This represented 59.4 percent of the population, a record low. The population aged 14 and under represented an all-time low of 11.8 percent. People over the age of 65 account for 28.9% of the overall population.

According to Japanese news sources, the population decline was partly ascribed to a decrease in the number of foreign immigrants due to tightened border restrictions due to the coronavirus epidemic and Japan's increasingly ageing society. Following the implementation of rigorous border restrictions, the population of foreign inhabitants fell from 25,000 to 2,722,000.

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Japan's population was 125,502,000 in October 2021, down 644,000 from the previous year. This is the 11th year in a row that the country's population has declined. The number of Japanese nationals totalled 122,780,000, a 618,000 decrease from the previous year. In 2021, Japan saw 831,000 births, while the number of deaths (1.44 million) outnumbered the number of births.

Two concerns confront Japanese society: an ageing population and a shrinking labour force. Over the last year, Japan has reduced the rate of population reduction due to an increase in foreign workers coming to the nation under a looser visa system to assist alleviate labour shortages. The Japanese business sector urged that barriers be loosened so that enterprises that rely on foreign labour might hire them.

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• Japan
• border
• coronavirus
• population
• visa
• labour