TOKYO, April 12 (Xinhua) — The inhabitants in Japan declined to 124.95 million in 2022, marking the twelfth consecutive yr of decline, authorities knowledge confirmed Wednesday.
As of Oct. 1 final yr, the entire inhabitants together with foreigners noticed a lower of 556,000, or 0.44 % from the earlier yr, based on the newest inhabitants estimates launched by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
The variety of Japanese nationals, which got here in at 12.2 million, plunged by 750,000, the decline of which has been increasing since 2011, the ministry mentioned in a web-based report.
The determine represented the biggest comparable decline since comparable knowledge grew to become accessible in 1950, Kyodo News reported.
In the newest depend, the variety of individuals underneath the age of 15 got here to 14.5 million, making up for the lowest-ever 11.6 % of the inhabitants, whereas these aged 65 or over totaled about 36.23 million, barely up from a yr earlier to account for 29 % of the entire.
Of the entire inhabitants, males accounted for 48.6 % with a fall for the fifteenth consecutive yr, whereas the feminine inhabitants noticed the twelfth consecutive yr of decline to account for 51.4 %.
The inhabitants intercourse ratio, or the ratio of males to females in a inhabitants, was 94.7, with females outnumbering males by 3,431,000, the info confirmed.
Japan’s complete inhabitants fell beneath the earlier yr’s degree for the primary time in 2005, then peaked in 2008, and has declined for 12 consecutive years since 2011, the ministry’s report mentioned.
With a declining birthrate and an getting old inhabitants, a shrinking workforce and a larger monetary burden on the medical and social safety techniques are posing challenges to the nation.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has on a number of events promised to deal with insurance policies associated to kids this yr, vowing to deal with the low birthrate by means of “unprecedented” steps.
In the newest transfer to deal with the falling birthrate, the Japanese authorities put into operation a brand new administrative physique Children and Families Agency to raised serve the nation’s child-related insurance policies.