The Latest Development in Population of Japan

Population Size According to the Statistics Bureau, the total population of Japan on October 1, 2007 was 127,770,794. The number is the result of a very small increase of 1,284 since October 1, 2006, when the population was 127,769,510. The rate of population growth was 0.001% or practically zero. The population of Japan is now entering the phase of long-term decline. The population growth rate was negative in 2005 for the first time since the 19th century. Although the population growth rate has fluctuated around zero since 2005, it is predicted that negative growth rates will become dominant and the rate of population decline will accelerate. The official population projection by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research published in 2006 projected that the population of Japan will be 95 million in 2050, which is a 25.5% decline from 128 million in 2005. This implies that, although the population growth rate is practically zero presently, the average annual growth rate between 2005 and 2050 will be approximately -0.7%. The natural growth between 2006 and 2007 was negative. Between October 1 of 2006 and 2007 there were 1,103,431 deaths and 1,101,117 births; there were 2,314 more deaths than births. Thus, the very small population increase was due to international migration. The number of immigrants was 2,882,497 and outnumbered the number of emigrants, 2,878,899, by 3,598. The natural increase rate and the net migration rate were -0.002% and 0.003%, respectively. The provisional estimate by the Statistics Bureau shows that the total population on October 1, 2008 will be approximately 127,710,000. Thus, there will be a small population decline since 2007.