Japan’s Population Falls for First Time

Deaths exceed births by 10,000

On 22nd December 2005, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced in its yearly population survey that the population of Japan would decline by around 10,000.

According to the report, the estimated 1.067 million births will be exceeded by an estimated 1.077 million deaths. This is the first time that Japan will experience a natural decrease in population since records began in 1899.

Compared to last year, there are an estimated 44,000 fewer births and 48,000 more deaths.

The number of estimated deaths in 2005 is only exceeded by that recorded in 1947. Post-war Japan suffered from high infant mortality, but now there is a rapid increase in the death rate of elderly people, reflecting the aging society of Japan.

The National Institute of Population and Social Security Research had estimated that the Japanese population would start to decline from 2007, and the overall population including foreign residents from 2006. However, both of these states have been reached in 2005.

Other figures released in the report show that cancer remains the leading cause of death, and that the number of marriages estimated in 2005 had fallen for the fourth year in a row.