Japan's population down by record number to 126.65 mil

Is it bad news though? Many strong nations has a very small population and still make it work. I think it's a good thing. World is overpopulated anyway. We can work with less.

Not to mention a reduce of foreigners is even better, considering companies are paying less for immigrants anyway. There are plenty of people that need jobs here in Japan but aren't getting any because of the cheap labor from overseas.

Here we go again and again.

It's not a bad thing to decrease population in Japan, already one of the most overcrowded countries in the world. The world is strained trying to support billions of people, our natural planet is depleting and suffering.

Still Too many in relation to it's land size.

Japan's population in 1900CE was ~44 million, rose to 128 million in 2000CE, and now the innate good sense of the Nihonjin has slowed down that growth. And maybe Humans do have 'quorum sensing' and, given the crowded condition of Japan, are the first group to show it clearly...

The population dropped by 483,789 …

… reflecting a fall in resident foreigners …

The number of Japanese decreased 428,617 for the 12th straight year of decline, with deaths outnumbering births in the graying society.

The fall in Japanese (428,612) seems to be much more responsible for the population decline than the fall in resident foreigners (55,177 = 483,789 - 428,612).

""the largest decline since 2013 when the figures started to include resident foreigners, according to the data released by the internal affairs ministry.""

How SAD, So this means the government never counted all the Tax paying Law abiding foreigners who are building and supporting this nation systems as part of it's population prior to 2013

Once again we get posts just saying a decline is good, it can be, but in Japans cases its NOT, look at Japans population pyramid, the base is narrowing VERY VERY sharply, Japans population is heading for a cliff!!

And while heading for this cliff the LARGE number of elderly are costing Japan a FORTUNE & there are no young coming into the picture to pay taxes etc.

Japan isnt heading for a nice steady balanced decline, its heading towards extinction!

@GW, then what is your solution? Inject millions of migrant into the nation to keep up? That is just adding a bandage to a existing problem and try to push the problem a few years ahead.

People forget this is the cycle of life. All nation population will one day reach it peak and start to fall down. What goes up will always go down and the cycle repeat itself. Even if we are reduce back to 60mill. we will still be alright and start over again. That is how a normal population suppose to work. Not increase it and keep hoping it will rise. That will only create more problems in the future.

What we need to is to change the companies structures and the way we do business and operate. Consolidating everything and improving the way of life.

The main motivation for governments like Japan of trying to reverse population decline is their obsession with economic growth and getting to the top of the economic league table.

They need more people because that means more mindless consumption - which is good for economic growth.

While it may be good for the planet, and it will feel less crowded, economically the future will be very hard for Japan because of declining aggregate demand and rising pension costs.

Immigration won't save Japan either. No one wants to come here except - as Hiro eloquently pointed out - cheap foreign labor.

Japan doesn't want citizens; it only wants cheap labor to fill a hole, then go home after hitting retirement age. It is simply not a place to immigrate to and settle with a family. Why? Because nobody here wants you to do that. Right Hiro?

Another problem for Japan's population is the brain drain. I know plenty of emigrants that have settled in USA, Canada, Europe, never to return. I'm not talking about salarymen posted overseas. I'm talking about scientists and engineers that are fed up with Japan and decided to leave, for good.

Good news to read! Japan is leading the way in purposely depopulating and showing the economy can still boom and living standards can be great.

A stable 60 million is probably the right number for Japan. All of Asia should aim to halve their populations. The environmental damage done in Asia by most nations being insanely overpopulated is shocking.

If your willing to sign terrible deals like the Plaza Accord destroying your own economy for decades it doesn't matter the Population size.

America can bully China and India easily and both those countries have over 2.5 Billion people. USA stronger then both militarily,economically,globally, world order.

@Hiro

Use your head. As the population decreases, the median age increases. Don't forget that!

A population of 60 million Obasans and Ojisans will not "start over again". Unless you start cloning people.

That’s a big drop

There are plenty of people that need jobs here in Japan but aren't getting any because of the cheap labor from overseas

And locals do not want to do that jobs, because they have high expectations

What's the point of these population decreasing updates?

Nothing has changed in order to try and reverse it right?

And nothing will be done, ever.

It's Simple math really.

The government is worthless - nothing will ever be accomplished + all that matters is politicians getting their cut = The eventual end of Japan.

No, that’s of course neither good nor practicable, because you cannot decrease on all society’s corners everything exactly parallel. Instead, many distortions have to be expected. Only a little illustrating example, if you need much more younger people in care homes, those cannot make anymore studies, innovations or research for developing, producing and globally selling products for money to come in. You simply cannot run a whole society if everyone flushes another ones toilet the whole day or one half of the population tells the other half their names all the time because they forget it every five minutes from dementia. Sounds a bit extreme? Yes, but that’s how it will be like. And globally, if you compare which societies shrink and which ones extremely grow, you will soon need a team of bodyguards or a private militia , especially for your daughters and wives or women in general, while you still can establish a strict defending border management. But that’s another story.

Not just Japan. Asia overall is overpopulated. Concentration to the big city like Tokyo is just too much.

Very happy to see this. Japan is far, far above the natural carrying capacity.

This is only a good thing under the pipe dream of everyone being self-sufficient. Unfortunately the system works as a Ponzi where the biggest group of needy, i.e., the elderly, are supported by the working age population. As the ratio of elderly to working age people increases, this becomes a bigger and bigger problem. A society full of old people is also less dynamic and less fun.

The biggest "problem" by far for overpopulation is the increase in lifespan. The number of babies born worldwide stabilized years ago and is either falling or about to start doing so. Global population is only increasing because people aren't dieing as early as they used to.

As the population decreases, the median age increases. Don't forget that!

and GDP per capita increases Don't forget That!

@Hiro not all immigrants are accepted as a cheap labor. If you open your eye (mind) and look around you'll be surprised to see that there are immigrants who are getting paid very high as well. There are researchers, doctors, engineers, overseas sales managers and many more. Generalizing the term immigrant with cheap labor is not good at all.

"all the Tax paying Law abiding foreigners who are building and supporting this nation systems as part of it's population prior to 2013"

LOL all 2.8 million and the vast majority of whom are sending their money home to their own country. In other words, the strength of the Japanese economy is also supporting foreigner's home country. Don't forget the services foreigners are using.

You have that backwards ...foreigners are here to work in the low paying jobs most Japanese are not interested in...be it on the farms, factories, construction sites or conbinis. Helping to keep this slowly sinking economy afloat.

Isn't it typical way so called advanced countries historically employed, be it US, Canada, UK and Europe?

Even South Korea and Hong Kong

This is only a problem in that the economic powers that be somehow thought a system predicated on infinite population growth with limited space and resources was a great idea. We are seeing the inevitable conclusion of the capitalism strategy now.

The smart move would be for governments to start reorganizing now around a system that doesn't expect the population and tax-paying population to grow year-to-year. Maybe even settle for a comparatively modest economy to what they are used to for their own sustainability and peace of mind.

1,325 less Japanese people per day. That's a lot of people.

It is good news from an environment point of view. The global population growth is way too big and getting out of control.

If you thumb me down you are demonstrating your ignorance to the current state of global population growth and the devastating affect it is having on our plant and natural resources.

The number of people leaving Japan surpassed those entering the country, contributing to the first drop in seven years of resident foreigners at 2,811,543, down 55,172 from 2020

I won't be surprised if all of the Europeans leave. Unlike 20 years ago , Japan these days is a rather awkward country to live in. There is Ghosn the ambush, there is the other French bloke ( the bitcoin one) , there is Fischot the father who isn't allowed to see his children.

The real problem this country faces. Japan must prepare for this decline to continue both economically and strategically but looking at how it takes care of the current state of affairs such as the Pandemic and Corona Vaccine, this is very unlikely they will do nothing about it.

For most countries a declining population would be welcomed, I myself do however Japan is strategically to important for such a decline, countries like China, South and North Korea, Russia and the American hoards who are already here. You never know what dangers will come out of current American political climate over the next 50 years, which is why I included America since I trust the Americans as much as I trust the Russians. Currently the most worry some would be China and China will take full advantage of this situation if it is not planning for it already.

1,325 less Japanese people per day. That's a lot of people.

Almost all of the post-war baby boomers have already hit 65, so the elderly population shouldn't increase much further. It was increasing by about 2000 a day in recent years. What is still increasing though is the number of over 75s, which is projected to increase from 18.7 to 21.7 million between 2020 and 2025. I came to Japan in 1990, there were only 6 million over 75s. That's a 200% increase in the past 30 years. Over 75s don't consume much in terms of leisure and regular consumer goods, but require lots of (often state-provided) services.

https://ecitizen.jp/Population/Country/JP

and yet people refuse to acknowledge that the writing is on the wall...

Who are these people you talk about?

Out of curiosity I checked and at 126.65 million the population today is back to almost exactly the same level it was in 1996 (126.64 million), which is kind of interesting.

Here we go again and again.

It's not a bad thing to decrease population in Japan, already one of the most overcrowded countries in the world. The world is strained trying to support billions of people, our natural planet is depleting and suffering.

Yup and here we go again, people ignoring the fact that it isn't the decline in the number of people in Japan per se that is the problem, but the fact that the population is getting much much older that is.

Good news More, please. Japan is stupidly overpopulated.

Excellent. De-population through natural means. Less stress on resources. Less need to import and shift in resource dependency.

As for the so-called concern about pensions and such. Japan has a fiat currency and can print money as it deems fit.

As for so-called 'threats' from other Asian countries - primarily China and for some weird notion Korea(s). That is simply ridiculous - population is not a factor. The deterrent is diplomacy wedded to trade, manufacture and design.

The major cities will not be damaged by a rising or aging population but outlying districts have been and will be.

If living in a 2ldk in Tokyo with a child or two is the future then societal problems will surely increase…

As for the so-called concern about pensions and such.

These aren't "so-called" concerns, these are actual, concrete concerns about real life issues.

Japan has a fiat currency and can print money as it deems fit.

No, just because a country has "fiat" currency doesn't mean it can print as much money as it wants, unless its cool with its citizens needing like 20KG worth of 10,000 Yen notes to buy a loaf of bread.

Anyway, this is about a lot more than just money. Take a look at what villages in the Japanese countryside where the average age is over 70 and their social structures are collapsing because they have no future look like. These places are absolutely destitute. The proportion of Japanese society living under such conditions is increasing year by year as a direct result of its demographics and this will continue for the foreseeable future. The society is becoming more impoverished because of this, not less. This is not something to be cheered on with the absolutely moronic observation that "Hey, less people = less stress on resources, this is so great" which is completely disconnected from the actual reality on the ground in this country.

The pension scheme openly admits to being pay as you go and uses the GPIF fund to make up the difference between incoming premiums and pension spending. It never used to, but it is now speculating on foreign stocks to make up the shortfall. It lost money the year before, but had huge gains in the last report. If it stays lucky, or doesn't and the government bails it out, then all is well. As suggested, the government's ability to bail it out will depend on how much money printing a sovereign country can do, i.e., whether Modern Monetary Theory is onto something. While this is a factor, it is a separate issue to whether the pension scheme itself is operating as a (demographic) Ponzi.

Getting back to population but another obvious thing in the data is that the secondary baby boomers, i.e., the kids of the original baby boomers, are now too old to have many more children. There are about 18 million forty somethings in Japan, but under 14 million thirty somethings. This means that births are inevitably going to fall by a large chunk (25% or so) in the next few years even if the same birthrate is maintained. With Covid, the birthrate is actually likely to fall, meaning even fewer births.

Almost complete lack of support to raise children, uncertainty about the future, governmental decisions that flirt with pandemic disaster, huge amount of money necessary to give a child an university degree...

Almost complete lack of support to raise children, uncertainty about the future, governmental decisions that flirt with pandemic disaster, huge amount of money necessary to give a child an university degree...

Almost complete lack? I am not sure if you are talking in absolute term or relative term. Countermeasures to the falling birthrate do exist in Japan. Concerns over the financial burdens in advance to send kids up to the academic level of university is necessary? I think, such concerns do not exist in general in any countries which carry higher than 2.0 Total Fertility Rate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_fertility_rate#/media/File:Total_Fertility_Rate_Map_by_Country.svg

Yes Japan's falling population speed is fast but there's one even much worse. South Korea which TFR below 1.0 which is world historical record. South Korea is one of advanced countries but it is said that the most possible country to extinct if it cannot stop the decrease.

Or, they could simply fling their border doors wide open just like in political left controlled western nations and everything will be rosey.

Not at all rosey, but very thorney. lol