Demographics of Japan

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Development of the birth and death rates in Japan from 1950 to 2008. The drop in the birth rate in 1964 was explained by the year of the fire horse .

The Demographics of Japan was marked by a strong population growth in the 19th and 20th centuries, resulting in one of Japan made the most densely populated industrialized countries of the world. The current situation is characterized by a high life expectancy and a low birth rate. Since 2010 the population has been falling.

Historical overview

Population development in Japan since 1872 with forecasts up to 2050
year Population
(in 1000) 		Age groups (in%) Change
(in%) 		Population
density (inh / km²)
0-14 years 15-64 y. > 64 y.
1872 034,806 ... ... ... ... 091
1900 043,847 33.9 60.7 05.4 +0.83 115
1910 049.184 36.0 58.8 05.2 +1.16 129
1920 055,963 36.5 58.3 05.3 +1.30 147
1930 064,450 36.6 58.7 04.8 +1.42 169
1940 071,933 36.7 58.5 04.8 +1.10 188
1950 084.115 35.4 59.6 04.9 +1.58 226
1960 094,302 30.2 64.1 05.7 +0.92 254
1970 104,665 24.0 68.9 07.1 +1.08 281
1980 117.060 23.5 67.4 09.1 +0.90 314
1990 123.611 18.2 69.7 12.1 +0.42 332
2000 126,926 14.6 68.1 17.4 +0.21 340
2005 127,768 13.8 66.1 20.2 +0.13 343
2010 128.057 13.2 63.8 23.0 +0.05 343
2015 127.095 12.6 60.7 26.6 −0.15 341
2016 126,933 12.4 60.3 27.3 −0.13 340
2017 126,440 12.2 59.7 28.1 −0.39 341
Forecast 2017:
2020 125,325 12.0 59.1 28.9 −0.32 336
2030 119.125 11.1 57.7 31.2 −0.51 319
2040 110,919 10.8 53.9 35.4 −0.71 297
2050 101,923 10.6 51.8 37.7 −0.84 273

Exact statistics on the population of Japan have only been available since the Meiji period (1868–1912), when Japan was rapidly changing into an industrial society based on the Western model. In 1874 the population was almost 34 million, which made Japan a comparatively densely populated country with a high population even then (for comparison: France in 1872: 36.2 million). In the following decades, the population grew continuously due to the improving socio-economic conditions, especially the improved medical care, and with around 64 million inhabitants in 1930 it reached roughly the same size as Germany at that time. The increase in population was hardly slowed by the Second World War and in 1950 Japan had a population of around 84 million, a significantly larger population than any European country (except Russia). The 100 million mark was passed in the late 1960s. From the 1940s, the birth rate began to decline from over 4.0 to around 2.0 in the 1960s, as was also to be observed sooner or later in other western industrial societies. The threshold of around 2.1 births, which is necessary to maintain a stable population without immigration, was undercut, and the birth rate fell continuously to the previous absolute minimum of 1.26 in 2005. Since then, a slight increase has been observed. However, due to the fact that the baby boom cohorts were still reaching the reproductive age, the population initially continued to increase and in 2010 reached its absolute maximum of 128 million. Since then the population has been falling.

Current forecasts predict a population decrease of more than 20 million by the middle of the century, corresponding to more than 20 percent of the population.

Japan is now an urban society with just 5% of the workforce in agriculture. Many farmers supplement their income with part-time jobs in nearby towns. About 80 million people live in close concentration on the Pacific coast of Honshū and in the north of the island of Kyūshū .

The population of the largest cities (12 cities with more than 1 million inhabitants) in 2015 were:

Population density and distribution

Population density (inhabitants / km²) by prefectures in 2015

Japan's population density in 2016 was 340 inhabitants / km². The population within Japan is extremely inhomogeneously distributed and mainly concentrated on the coastal strips and large plains of the Pacific coast of Honshū. While the population density in predominantly rural Hokkaidō is below 70 inh./km², it exceeds 3500 inh. / Km² in the urban prefectures of Tokyo , Kanagawa and Osaka . In 2005, 84 million people, almost two thirds of the population, lived in the “areas with extremely high population density” determined by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport , which made up around 3.3% of the country's area. That number has increased by over 20 million since 1975.

This population distribution is the cause of the extremely high land prices. Between 1955 and 1989, land prices rose by an average of 15,000% in the six largest cities. Land prices rose sharply, especially during the real estate bubble at the end of the 1980s. Overall land prices rose by 40% from 1980 to 1987, and doubled in the six major cities of Tōkyō, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyōto, Osaka and Kobe. Since 1991 prices have fallen significantly again during the deflationary crisis of the 1990s, but remain at a high level given the high density of these metropolitan areas. In 2007, for the first time, price increases for all three land use categories (housing, industry, services) were registered in the six major cities; in 2008 the growth rates again reached values ​​of over four percent.

As a result, many families cannot afford to live in the larger cities. Therefore, many Japanese have to commute long distances every day. Daily trips of up to 2 hours in one direction are not uncommon in the Tokyo area. In Japan, urban parks are smaller and rarer than in large Western European and North American cities, which have around ten times as much grassland per inhabitant.

Government and local governments are providing funds to make smaller towns and rural areas more attractive by developing transportation infrastructure, social services, industry and education. The aim is to decentralize settlement and improve the quality of life. Nevertheless, the major cities, especially Tōkyō, remain attractive to the young population looking for training and jobs.

age structure

Infant Mortality, Fertility, and Life Expectancy
year Infant
mortality
per 1,000
live births 		Fertility
rate 		Average
life expectancy (yrs)
Men Women
1950 60.1 3.65 59.57 a) 62.97 a)
1955 39.8 2.37 63.60 67.75
1960 30.7 2.00 65.32 70.19
1965 18.5 2.14 67.74 72.92
1970 13.1 2.13 69.31 74.66
1975 10.0 1.91 71.73 76.89
1980 07.5 1.75 73.35 78.76
1985 05.5 1.76 74.78 80.48
1990 04.6 1.54 75.92 81.90
1995 04.3 1.42 76.38 82.85
2000 03.2 1.36 77.72 84.60
2005 02.8 1.26 78.56 85.52
2010 02.3 1.39 79.55 86.30
2015 01.9 1.45 80.79 87.05
2016 02.0 1.44 ... ...
a) Period 1950–1952
Development of the number of births and the birth rate
Age pyramid 2010 in million inhabitants
Projected age pyramid for the year 2050 in million inhabitants

Like other post-industrial countries, Japan has an aging population. In 1989, only 11.6% of the population was 65 years of age or older. Forecasts predict that 25.6% of the population will be in this age group by 2030. This shift will make Japan one of the oldest societies in the world, and this change will happen faster than any other country.

This aging of the population was triggered by a combination of low fertility rates and high life expectancy . Since the first half of the 1970s, the fertility rate has been below the value of 2.0 and, at 1.26, reached its lowest value in 2005. Since then it has increased slightly to 1.46 in 2015.

A number of other factors contributed to the small family trend:

  • late marriage
  • increasing participation of women in working life (and this increasingly also after the wedding)
  • small apartments
  • high cost of children's education.

Life expectancy of 76.4 years for men and 82.2 years for women was the highest in the world in 1993. (At the end of the Second World War it was still 50 years for both sexes). The death rate was estimated at 9.26 per 1,000 people in 2008. The leading causes of death are cancer , heart disease, and cerebrovascular disease , a pattern typical of post-industrial societies.

Politics, the media and the general public are concerned with the expected consequences of a population in which a quarter of the population is 65 or older. In 2025, a dependency rate (ratio of under 15 and over 65 year olds to 15 to 64 year olds) of 0.66 is expected, i.e. H. 2 dependents for 3 employable. However, this definition of dependency reflects the situation rather too favorably, since hardly a Japanese person is employed at 16 today and many cannot work until 65.

The aging of the population was already evident in the aging workforce and shortage of young workers in the late 1980s, and has implications for employment, wages and benefits, and the role of women in working life. The increasing proportion of older people in the population also had an important impact on government spending. In the 1970s, social spending was only about 6% of Japan's national income . In 1992 the share of GDP was already 11.8% (the share in the household was already 18%), in 2003 it was even 19.1%. In 2025, 27% of national income is expected to be spent on social spending.

In addition, the mean age of the older population rose in the late 1980s. An increase from 6% (1985) to 15% (2025) is forecast for the proportion of the population between 75 and 85 years of age. The government began reassessing the relative burdens on the government and the private sector in relation to health care and pensions in the mid-1980s , and established regulations to control the government's share in these programs. Acknowledging the decreasing likelihood that an elderly person will live with an adult child and the greater likelihood that all daughters and daughter-in-law will be in paid work (or simply rejecting the traditional obligation to care for their aging parents), the government encouraged building nursing homes , day care facilities for the elderly, and home care programs. Longer lifespans change relationships between spouses and across generations, they create new tasks for the state and change almost every aspect of social life.

Japanese ethnocentrism

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

The Japanese often claim to outsiders that their people are ethnically homogeneous. However, recent studies of the genome have shown great genetic diversity. It was a mixture of genes of Jōmon and in the Yayoi period had moved south China and Korea established immigrants, the great variability of facial features explained.

By international standards, the Japanese have a high standard of living and almost 90% of the population consider themselves to be middle class . Most people express satisfaction with their lives, take great pride in being Japanese, and take Japan's status as one of the world's leading economic powers. In folk art , right wing politics and the Shinshukyo (New Religions), as well as in international management, the Japanese have turned to their past to interpret the present. This can, however, lead to the fact that history is virtually reconstructed as a set of shared views and practices, which makes the country look more homogeneous than it actually is.

In a society that values ​​outward conformity, individuals seem to step back to meet the needs of the group. But individuals create a variety of styles of life for themselves. They are limited in their choice by age, gender, life experiences and other factors, but can draw on a rich cultural repertoire, past and present, through which the wider social environment of families, neighborhoods and institutions gives meaning to their lives. When Japan began to internationalize in the 1990s, the identification of typical Japanese qualities took on a new meaning. The ideology of ethnic homogeneity sometimes masked individual choices and lifestyles of post-industrial Japan.

migration

Between 6 and 7 million inhabitants changed their place of residence every year in the 1980s. About 50% of the parades took place in the same prefecture . During Japan's economic development in the 20th century, and particularly in the 1950s and 1960s, migration was driven by urbanization as people moved from rural areas to larger metropolitan areas in search of better work and education. The migration from the rural areas then continued at a slower pace until the late 1980s.

In the 1980s, government policies encouraged the development of new urban structures away from the big cities, especially Tōkyō, and supported regional centers in attracting young people to live and work there. These cities offered those coming from the area a familiar environment, lower cost of living, shorter commutes and generally a more relaxed lifestyle than in the big cities. However, the youth continued to move to large cities to attend universities and find work, but some returned to regional centers, or at least to the prefecture they came from.

Government statistics show that in the late 1980s a significant number of residents left the two largest cities, Tokyo and Osaka. In 1988 more than half a million inhabitants left Tōkyō, which this year, taking into account the immigration, suffered a net loss of almost 73,000 inhabitants. Osaka had a net loss of nearly 36,000 in the same year. However, the prefectures with the largest net gains, such as Saitama , Chiba , Ibaraki, and Kanazawa , are near Tokyo, and Hyogo , Nara, and Shiga are near Osaka and Kyoto. This pattern therefore suggests a process of suburbanization rather than decentralization ; people move away from the big cities in search of affordable housing, but still commute in for work and leisure. In the new millennium, the population of Tokyo prefecture grew again: in 2007 the net influx was 94,500, the prefectures Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama recorded a combined migration balance of over 150,000.

Japan's economic success has led to an increase in certain forms of external migration. In 1990 about 11 million Japanese traveled abroad. More than 80% of them were tourists, especially to other parts of Asia and North America. 663,100 Japanese lived abroad, of whom about 75,000 were permanent foreign residents. That is more than six times that of 1975. More than 200,000 Japanese left Japan in 1990 for long periods of study, research or business engagements. Since the government and private companies attached importance to internationalization, a larger number of residents were directly affected, and the island position historically claimed by Japan was reduced. Despite the benefits of living abroad, people who have lived abroad for long periods of time often face problems of discrimination when they return because others no longer see them as “fully fledged Japanese”. In the late 1980s, these issues, particularly the harassment of returned children in schools, became a major public issue in Japan and Japanese communities abroad.

Important demographic numbers

The Japanese population is 125.5 million people (2020 estimate) in 47.1 million households. 78.7% live in cities (July 2000). The country has a high population density of 337 people / km², but has an uneven distribution of the population. 1523 inhabitants per km 2 are concentrated on the habitable land , more than 50% of the population lives on 2% of the area (July 1993).

Note: values ​​for 2008, 2012 and 2020 are from The World Factbook

Population growth :

-0.27% (2020 estimated)
-0.08% (2012 estimated)
-0.14% (2008 estimated)
0.02% (2006 estimated)
0.05% (2005 estimated)
0.08% (2004 estimated)
0.11% (2003 estimated)
0.18% (estimated in 2000)

Birth rate

7.3 births per 1000 inhabitants (estimated in 2020)
8.38 births per 1000 inhabitants (2012 estimated)
7.87 births per 1000 inhabitants (estimated in 2008)
9.37 births per 1000 inhabitants (2006 estimated)
9.47 births per 1000 population (2005 estimated)
9.56 births per 1000 inhabitants (2004 estimated)
9.61 births per 1000 population (2003 estimated)
9.96 births per 1000 population (2000 estimated)
14.9 births per 1000 population (1978)
17.7 births per 1000 population (1970s)
17.5 births per 1000 population (1960s)
20.9 births per 1000 population (1950s)
34.3 births per 1000 population (1947)
31.7 births per 1,000 population (first half of the 1930s)
32.4 births per 1000 population (1930)

Death rate

10.2 deaths per 1000 inhabitants (estimated in 2020)
9.15 deaths per 1000 inhabitants (2012 estimated)
9.26 deaths per 1000 inhabitants (2008 estimated)
9.16 deaths per 1000 inhabitants (2006 estimated)
8.95 deaths per 1000 population (2005 estimated)
8.75 deaths per 1000 population (2004 estimated)
8.55 deaths per 1000 population (2003 estimated)
8.15 deaths per 1000 population (2000 estimated)

Age structure (2012 estimate)

0-14 years: 13.1% (male 8,521,571; female 8,076,173)
2005 estimate: 0-14 years: 14.3% (male 9,337,867; female 8,876,996)
15–64 years: 64% (male 40,815,840; female 40,128,235)
15-64 years: 66.2% (male 42,697,264; female 42,196,835)
65 years and over: 22.9% (male 12,275,829; female 16,658,016) (2011 estimate)
65 years and over: 19.5% (male 10,169,190; female 14,054,850)

Gender ratio (2012 estimate, 2005 values ​​in brackets)

at birth: 1.06 men / women (2005: 1.05)
under 15 years: 1.08 men / women (2005: 1.05)
15–64 years: 1.0 men / women (2005: 1.01)
65 years and over: 0.76 men / women (2005: 0.73)
Total population: 0.94 men / women (2005: 0.96)

Child mortality (2012 estimate, 2005 values ​​in brackets)

total: 2.21 per 1000 live births (2005: 3.26)
males: 2.44 per 1000 live births (2005: 3.52)
female: 1.97 per 1000 live births (2005: 2.99)

Life expectancy at birth (2012, estimate; values ​​in brackets for 2000 + 2005)

Total population: 83.91 years (2005: 81.15; 2000: 80.8)
Men: 80.57 years (2005: 77.86; 2000: 77.51)
Women: 87.43 years (2005: 84.61; 2000: 84.05)

Fertility rate :

1.39 children / woman (2012, estimate)
1.22 children / woman (2008, estimate)
1,288 children / women (2005, estimate)

HIV / AIDS

Infection rate in adults: <0.1% (2004, estimate)
Affected persons: 12,000 (2003, estimate)
Deaths: 500 (2003, estimate)

Ethnic groups

99.4% Japanese,
0.6% others
mainly Koreans (40.4% of the non-Japanese population) and some Chinese .
Ainu , Ryukyuan people form national minorities.

Foreign residents

More than 2.5 million (probably more due to illegal immigration)
Growth rate: 14.9% in 5 years
Koreans: 1 million,
Chinese: 0.5 million,
Filipinos: 0.5 million,
Brazilians: 250,000 (mostly ethnic Japanese returning from Brazil),
There are also Peruvians, Americans, Canadians, British, Indonesians, Thai, Africans and other nationalities.


Religion :

There are no reliable statistics in this regard in Japan, as the census does not contain any questions about religion. See Religion in Japan .

Net migration rate

not available (2008, estimate)
0 migrants / 1000 inhabitants (2005, estimate)

language

Japanese language

Alphabetism

(People over 15 years of age who can read and write, estimated in 2002)
Total population, both sexes: 99%

Web links

Commons : Demographics of Japan  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Statistics Office of the Ministry of the Interior and Communication (ed.): STATISTICAL HANDBOOK OF JAPAN 2017 . November 2017, ISSN  0081-4792 , 1. Total Population: Table 2.2 Trends in Population (as of October 1), p. 10 (English, online ).
  2. ↑ Statistics Office of the Ministry of the Interior and Communication (ed.): STATISTICAL HANDBOOK OF JAPAN 2019 . 2 population (English, online ).
  3. ^ Données historiques de la Statistique générale de France SGF 1800-1925. INSEE, accessed on July 21, 2018 (French).
  4. ↑ Statistics Office of the Ministry of the Interior and Communication (ed.): STATISTICAL HANDBOOK OF JAPAN 2017 . November 2017, ISSN  0081-4792 , Table 2.9: Population of Major Cities, p. 21 (English, online ).
  5. ↑ Statistics Office of the Ministry of the Interior and Communication (ed.): STATISTICAL HANDBOOK OF JAPAN 2017 . November 2017, ISSN  0081-4792 , Figure 2.9: Population Density by Prefecture (2015), p. 20 (English, online ).
  6. ↑ engl. DIDs (Densely Inhabited Districts): Municipalities or districts with a population density of over 4000 inh. / Km² and a total population of over 5000 inhabitants ( definition )
  7. ↑ MIC, Statistisches Jahrbuch 2008: Population, Area and Population Density of Densely Inhabited Districts by Prefecture ( Memento of the original dated November 24, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (MS Excel; 28 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stat.go.jp
  8. ↑ MIC, Statistics Bureau: Index of Urban Land Prices by Use (1955–2003) ( Memento of the original dated November 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (MS Excel; 29 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stat.go.jp
  9. ↑ MLIT , Japan Real Estate Institute ( 日本 不動産 研究所 ): Urban Land Price Index ( Memento of the original from November 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (MS Excel; 27 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stat.go.jp
  10. ↑ Statistics Office of the Ministry of the Interior and Communication (ed.): STATISTICAL HANDBOOK OF JAPAN 2017 . November 2017, ISSN  0081-4792 , 1. Total Population: Table 2.6 Vital Statistics, p. 16 (English, online ).
  11. ↑ a b c CIA World Factbook: Japan (English), accessed April 15, 2020
  12. ↑ cf. OECD Social Expenditure Database (SOCX)
  13. ^ Arnaud Nanta: Physical Anthropology and the Reconstruction of Japanese Identity in Postcolonial Japan . In: Social Science Japan Journal . tape 11 , no. 1 , July 1, 2008, ISSN  1369-1465 , pp. 29–47 , doi : 10.1093 / ssjj / jyn019 ( oup.com [accessed August 23, 2018]).
  14. ↑ Hanihara, K (1991). "Dual structure model for the population history of the Japanese". Japan Review . 2 : 1-33.
  15. ↑ Yomiuri Shimbun, April 30, 2008: Influx to Tokyo area exceeded urban flight by 155,150 in '07 ( Memento from April 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  16. ^ A b Ministry of Foreign Affairs : Japan Today. Tokyo 1980. p. 86.
  17. ↑ Ruth Benedict : Chrysanthemum and Sword. Forms of Japanese culture. , translated by Jobst-Mathias Spannagel. Page 223. Suhrkamp Verlag . Edition suhrkamp. January 2008. First edition 2006. Original edition published in 1946. ISBN 978-3-518-12014-9