Government data revealed today, Wednesday, that the number of Japanese people has decreased at the fastest rate ever, while the number of foreign residents has reached a record level close to three million. According to the data, the proportion of elderly people in Japanese society has increased nationwide. The figures indicate that foreign nationals play a larger role than ever in compensating for the population decline. The number of Japanese people fell for the fourteenth consecutive year by about 800,000, bringing the total to 122.42 million as of January 1, 2023, according to population registration data released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
The population of Japanese nationals decreased by 801,000 in 2022 compared to the previous year, marking the largest drop and the first time all 47 prefectures have seen a decline since the survey began in 1968. The number of foreigners living in Japan reached a record 2.99 million, an increase of 10.7 percent from the previous year. This is the largest annual increase since the ministry began tracking the data a decade ago.
