Demographics of Japan

As of 2017, Japan was the world's eleventh-most populous country. The total population had declined by 0.8 percent from the time of the census five years previously, the first time it had declined since the 1945 census.^[5]

Since 2010, Japan has experienced net population loss due to falling birth rates and minimal immigration, despite having one of the highest life expectancies in the world, at 85.00 years as of 2016^[update] (it stood at 81.25 as of 2006).^[6] Using the annual estimate for October of each year, the population peaked in 2008 at 128,083,960 and had fallen by 2,983,352 by October 2021.^[7]

Based on 2012 data from the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, Japan's population will keep declining by about one million people every year in the coming decades, which would leave it with a population of around 70 million by 2060 and 42 million by early 22nd century if the current projections do not change.^[8] More than 40% of the population is expected to be over the age of 65 in 2060.^[9] In 2021 the population had for fifteen consecutive years declined by 644,000 on this year, the largest drop on record since 1945 and also reflecting a record low of 831,000 births. As of 2013^[update] more than 20 percent of the population of Japan were aged 65 and over.^[10]

The population consisted of 47,062,743 households, with 78.7% in urban areas (July 2000). High population density; 329.5 people per square kilometer for total area; 1,523 persons per square kilometer for habitable land. More than 50% of the population lives on 2% of the land. (July 1993).^[11] According to research in 2009, the population to land density ratio has gradually increased, now at 127 million per 337 km2. Compared to the findings of July 1993 as well as in July 2000, the population density has greatly increased, from 50% of the population living on 2% of the land to 77%. However, as the years have progressed since the last recordings of the population, Japan's population has decreased, raising concern about the future of Japan. There are many causes, such as the declining birthrates, as well as the ratio of men to women since the last measurements from the years of 2006 and 2010. According to the Japanese Health Ministry, the population is estimated to drop from its current state of 125.58 million to 86.74 million by the year 2060.^[12]

Japan dropped from the 7th most populous country in the world to 8th in 1990, to 9th in 1998, to 10th in the early 21st century, and to 11th in 2020.^[13][14] Over the period of 2010 to 2015, the population shrank by almost a million,^[15] and Japan lost a half-million in 2022 alone.^[16] The number of Japanese citizens decreased by 801,000 to 122,423,038 in 2022 from a year earlier, which was the most severe decrease and the first time all 47 prefectures have suffered a decline since the launch of the poll in 1968. The nation's population reached 128,057,352 Japanese people by early 2010. However, the long-lasting effects of Japanese economic crisis during the Great Recession strongly slowed down immigration rates in Japan in 2010s.

In March 2011, Japan suffered from a massive earthquake and tsunami and the subsequent Fukushima nuclear disaster, resulting 16,146 deaths, a reduction of about 1.39 years in the average life expectancy, an ultimate decrease in birth rates, and a marked decrease in immigration rates following the natural disasters, worst since the end of World War II.

According to studies from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, from January 2020 to the end of September 2021 as a direct effect of COVID-19 pandemic, Japan has registered 112,000 excess deaths, a loss of about 2.6 years in the average life expectancy, a noticeable decrease in birth rates and a marked decrease in immigration rates, the overall effect being a record natural population decline of 798,214 units^{[clarification needed]} in that year, although excess mortality rates for all causes has been estimated at between 100,000 and 130,000 deaths. It is the largest ever recorded since 1914 (at the time of World War I, Spanish flu pandemic, and the Great Kanto earthquake).^{[citation needed]}

According to a demographic study conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Japanese population (including foreign residents) has declined from 128 million people in 2010 to 124.3 million people in 2023, with a decrease of almost 511,000 people in one year.^[17][18]

Population Projection

Population projections for Japan (National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, 2023)

• 
  Population pyramids of Japan 2065 (middle-birth, middle-death scenario case)^[19]
• 
  Japan demographic transition 1888–2019

Census

Japan collects census information every five years, with censuses conducted by the Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.^[20][21] The latest population census reflects the situation as of 2020.^[21]

Population density

Japan's population density was 336 people per square kilometer as of 2014 (874 people per square mile) according to World Development Indicators. It ranks 35th in a list of countries by population density. Between 1955 and 1989, land prices in the six largest cities increased by 15,000% (+12% per year compound). Urban land prices generally increased 40% from 1980 to 1987; in the six largest cities, the price of land doubled over that period. For many families, this trend put housing in central cities out of reach.^[11]

The result was lengthy commutes for many workers in the big cities, especially in the Tokyo area where daily commutes of two hours each way are common.^[11] In 1991, as the bubble economy started to collapse, land prices began a steep decline, and within a few years fell 60% below their peak.^[22] After a decade of declining land prices, residents began moving back into central city areas (especially Tokyo's 23 wards), as evidenced by 2005 census figures. Despite nearly 70% of Japan being covered by forests,^[23] parks in many major cities—especially Tokyo and Osaka—are smaller and scarcer than in major West European or North American cities. As of 2014, parkland per inhabitant in Tokyo is 5.78 square meters,^[24] which is roughly half of the 11.5 square meters of Madrid.^[25]

National and regional governments devote resources to making regional cities and rural areas more attractive by developing transportation networks, social services, industry, and educational institutions to try to decentralize settlement and improve the quality of life. Nevertheless, major cities, especially Tokyo, Yokohama and Fukuoka, and to a lesser extent Kyoto, Osaka and Nagoya, remain attractive to young people seeking education and jobs.^[11]

Urban distribution

External images
Views of the World
Japan Gridded Population Cartogram
Japan Gridded Population

Japan has a high population concentration in urban areas on the plains since 75% of Japan's land area is made up of mountains,^[27] and also Japan has a forest cover rate of 68.5% (the only other developed countries with such a high forest cover percentage are Finland and Sweden).^[23]The 2010 census shows 90.7% of the total Japanese population live in cities.^[28]

Japan is an urban society with about only 5% of the labor force working in agriculture. Many farmers supplement their income with part-time jobs in nearby towns and cities. About 80 million of the urban population is heavily concentrated on the Pacific shore of Honshu.^[29]

Metropolitan Tokyo-Yokohama, with its population of 35 million residents, is the world's most populous city. Japan faces the same problems that confront urban industrialized societies throughout the world: overcrowded cities and congested highways.

Age structure

Japan's population is aging faster than that of any other nation.^[30] The population of those 65 years or older roughly doubled in 24 years, from 7.1% of the population in 1970 to 14.1% in 1994. The same increase took 61 years in Italy, 85 years in Sweden, and 115 years in France.^[31] In 2014, 26% of Japan's population was estimated to be 65 years or older,^[32] and the Health and Welfare Ministry has estimated that over-65s will account for 40% of the population by 2060.^[33] The demographic shift in Japan's age profile has triggered concerns about the nation's economic future and the viability of its welfare state.^[34]

• 
  1888
• 
  1920 (1st national census of population)
• 
  1925 (2nd national census of population)
• 
  1930 (3rd national census of population)
• 
  1935 (4th national census of population)
• 
  1940 (5th national census of population)
• 
  1947 (6th national census of population)
• 
  1950 (7th national census of population)
• 
  1955 (8th national census of population)
• 
  1960 (9th national census of population)
• 
  1965 (10th national census of population)
• 
  1970 (11th national census of population)
• 
  1975 (12th national census of population)
• 
  1980 (13th national census of population)
• 
  1985 (14th national census of population)
• 
  1990 (15th national census of population)
• 
  1995 (16th national census of population)
• 
  2000 (17th national census of population)
• 
  2005 (18th national census of population)
• 
  2010 (19th national census of population)
• 
  2015 (20th national census of population)
• 
  2019 estimate
• 
  Live births and deaths of Japan (1946–2019)

• Population pyramids of Japans prefectures in 2020
• 
  Tokyo
• 
  Nagasaki
• 
  Hiroshima
• 
  Hokkaido
• 
  Kyoto
• 
  Aichi
• 
  Fukushima
• 
  Osaka
• 
  Okinawa
• 
  Aomori
• 
  Akita
• 
  Chiba
• 
  Ibaraki
• 
  Miyagi
• 
  Yamagata
• 
  Iwate
• 
  Fukuoka
• 
  Yamaguchi
• 
  Saga
• 
  Okayama
• 
  Toyama
• 
  Hyogo
• 
  Ishikawa
• 
  Niigata
• 
  Fukui
• 
  Ehime
• 
  Tokushima
• 
  Kagawa
• 
  Miyazaki
• 
  Kumamoto
• 
  Kagoshima
• 
  Kochi
• 
  Yamanashi
• 
  Oita
• 
  Kanagawa
• 
  Shizuoka
• 
  Mie
• 
  Wakayama
• 
  Saitama
• 
  Nara
• 
  Tochigi
• 
  Nagano
• 
  Gunma
• 
  Shiga
• 
  Gifu
• 
  Tottori
• 
  Shimane

Life expectancy

Sources: Our World In Data and the United Nations.

1865–1949

1950–2015

Source: UN World Population Prospects

Fertility

As of 2022, Japan's total fertility rate was 1.26, among the lowest in the world and far below the replacement rate of 2.1. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has pledged to take urgent steps to tackle the country's declining birth rate, calling it "now or never" for Japan's aging society, and plans to double the budget for child-related policies by June and set up a new government agency in April.^{[citation needed]}

Births and total fertility rate of Japan

• 
  Number of births by age groups in Japan
• 
  Map of East Asia by total fertility rate (TFR) in 2021. Japan's TFR in 2012 was estimated at 1.41 children per woman, increasing slightly from 1.32 in the 2001–05 period. In 2012, the highest TFR was 1.90, in Okinawa, and the lowest was 1.09, in Tokyo. TFR by prefecture for 2000–05, as well as future estimates, have been released.^[37]
• 
  TFR of Japan over time to 2016
• 
  The percentage of births to unmarried women in selected countries, 1980 and 2007.^[38] As can be seen in the figure, Japan has not followed the trend of other industrialized countries of children born outside of marriage to the same degree.

Sex ratio

Live births, birth and death rates, overall fertility rate, and net change in Japan from 1899 to present. The statistics below do not include foreign nationalities.^[39][40][41]

Current vital statistics

^[43][44]

Period	Live births	Deaths	Natural increase
January—February 2023	120,982	304,827	-183,845
January—February 2024	115,606	296,919	-181,313
Difference	-5,376 (-4.4%)	-7,908 (-2.6%)	2,532

Internal migration

Between 6 million and 7 million people moved their residences each year during the 1980s. About 50% of these moves were within the same prefecture; the others were relocations from one prefecture to another. During Japan's economic development in the twentieth century, and especially during the 1950s and 1960s, migration was characterized by urbanization as people from rural areas in increasing numbers moved to the larger metropolitan areas in search of better jobs and education. Out-migration from rural prefectures continued in the late 1980s, but more slowly than in previous decades.^[11]

In the 1980s, government policy provided support for new urban development away from the large cities, particularly Tokyo, and assisted regional cities to attract young people to live and work there. Regional cities offered familiarity to those from nearby areas, lower costs of living, shorter commutes, and, in general, a more relaxed lifestyle than could be had in larger cities. Young people continued to move to large cities, however, to attend universities and find work, but some returned to regional cities (a pattern known as U-turn) or to their prefecture of origin (referred to as "J-turn"), or even moved to a rural area for the first time ("I-turn").^[11][45]

Government statistics show that in the 1980s significant numbers of people left the largest central cities (Tokyo and Osaka) to move to suburbs within their metropolitan areas. In 1988, more than 500,000 people left Tokyo, which experienced a net loss through migration of nearly 73,000 for the year. Osaka had a net loss of nearly 36,000 in the same year.^[11]

With a decreasing total population, internal migration results in only eight prefectures showing an increase in population. These are Okinawa (2.9%), Tokyo (2.7%), Aichi (1.0%), Saitama (1.0%), Kanagawa (0.9%), Fukuoka (0.6%), Shiga (0.2%), and Chiba (0.1%).^[46]

Emigration

About 663,300 Japanese were living abroad, approximately 75,000 of whom had permanent foreign residency, more than six times the number who had that status in 1975. More than 200,000 Japanese went abroad in 1990 for extended periods of study, research, or business assignments. As the government and private corporations have stressed internationalization, greater numbers of individuals have been directly affected, decreasing Japan's historical insularity. By the late 1980s, these problems, particularly the bullying of returnee children in schools, had become a major public issue both in Japan and in Japanese communities abroad.^[11]

Cities with significant populations of Japanese nationals in 2015 included:

• Los Angeles, United States: 68,689
• Bangkok, Thailand: 48,700
• Shanghai, China: 46,115
• New York, United States: 44,636
• Singapore: 36,963
• London, United Kingdom: 36,721
• Sydney, Australia: 30,448
• Vancouver, Canada: 26,999
• Hong Kong: 26,869
• San Francisco, United States: 18,777
• Toronto, Canada: 13,410

Note: The above data shows the number of Japanese nationals living overseas. It was published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and relates to 2015.^[47]

Immigration

According to the Japanese immigration centre, the number of foreign residents in Japan has steadily increased, and the number of foreign residents exceeded 2.8 million people in 2020.^[48]

In 2020, the number of foreigners in Japan was 2,887,116. This includes 325,000 Filipinos, many of whom are married to Japanese nationals and possessing some degree of Japanese ancestry,^[49][50] 208,538 Brazilians, the majority possessing some degree of Japanese ancestry,^[50] 778,112 Chinese, 448,053 Vietnamese and 426,908 South Koreans. Chinese, Vietnamese, Koreans, Filipinos and Brazilians account for about 77% of foreign residents in Japan.

The current issue of the shrinking workforce in Japan alongside its aging population has resulted in a recent need to attract foreign labour to the country. Reforms which took effect in 2015 relax visa requirements for "Highly Skilled Foreign Professionals" and create a new type of residence status with an unlimited period of stay.

The number of naturalizations peaked in 2008 at 16,000, declining to over 9,000 in the most recent year for which data are available.^[51] Most of the decline is accounted for by a steep reduction in the number of Japan-born Koreans taking Japanese citizenship. Historically the bulk of those taking Japanese citizenship have not been foreign-born immigrants but rather Japanese-born descendants of Koreans and Taiwanese who lost their citizenship in the Japanese Empire in 1947 as part of the American Occupation policy for Japan.

Japanese statistical authorities do not collect information on ethnicity, only nationality.^[52] As a result, both native and naturalized Japanese citizens are counted in a single group.^[53] Although official statistics therefore show homogeneity, other analyses describe the population as “multi-ethnic”.^[54][55][56]

The Japanese society of Yamato people is linguistically homogeneous with small populations of Koreans (0.9 million), Chinese/Taiwanese (0.65 million), Filipino (306,000 some being Japanese Filipino; children of Japanese and Filipino parentage).^[59] This can be also said for Brazilians (300,000, many of whom are ethnically Japanese) as well as Peruvians and Argentineans of both Latin American and Japanese descent.^{[citation needed]} Japan has indigenous minority groups such as the Ainu and Ryukyuans, who generally speak Japanese.

Japanese citizenship is conferred jure sanguinis, and monolingual Japanese-speaking minorities often reside in Japan for generations under permanent residency status without acquiring citizenship in their country of birth, although legally they are allowed to do so. This is because Japanese law does not recognize dual citizenship after the age of adulthood, and so people becoming naturalized Japanese citizens must relinquish their previous citizenship upon reaching the age of 22 years ^[60][61]

In addition, people taking Japanese citizenship must take a name using one or more of the Japanese character sets (hiragana, katakana, kanji). Names written in the Western alphabet, Korean alphabet, Arabic characters, etc., are not acceptable as legal names. Chinese characters are usually legally acceptable as nearly all Chinese characters are recognized as valid by the Japanese government. Transliterations of non-Japanese names using katakana (e.g. スミス　"Sumisu" for "Smith") are also legally acceptable.^{[citation needed]}

However, some naturalizing foreigners feel that becoming a Japanese citizen should mean that they have a Japanese name and that they should abandon their foreign name, and some foreign residents do not wish to do this—although most Special Permanent Resident Koreans and Chinese already use Japanese names. Nonetheless, some 10,000 Zainichi Koreans naturalize every year. Approximately 98.6% of the population are Japanese citizens, and 99% of the population speak Japanese as their first language. Non-ethnic Japanese in the past, and to an extent in the present, also live in small numbers in the Japanese archipelago.^[54]

Lifestyle

Japanese people enjoy a high standard of living, and nearly 90% of the population consider themselves part of the middle class.^[11] However, many studies on happiness and satisfaction with life tend to find that Japanese people average relatively low levels of life satisfaction and happiness when compared with most of the highly developed world; the levels have remained consistent if not declining slightly over the last half century.^{[62][63][64][65]} Japanese have been surveyed to be relatively lacking in financial satisfaction.^[66] The societal view generally disapproves of out-of-wedlock births and premarital pregnancies.^[67]

Social isolation is a problem for a segment of Japanese society, with almost 500,000 young people belonging to this group, they are also known as hikikomori.^[68]

The Japanese management working culture in Japan has led some to work-related deaths due to heart attack or stroke, this has led to the term karoshi (lit. "overwork death"). The government has received 200 claims of karoshi related work injuries each year, with some leading to suicide.^[69]

Many Japanese lead a sexless marriage. Japan has the lowest level of couples having sex at 45 times per year, well below the global average of 103 times. With reasons of "tired" and "bored with intercourse" usually given as an answer.^[70] Despite this, Japan ranks as number two globally on the amount spent on pornography, after South Korea.^[71][72]

Marriages and divorce

• Marriage and divorce statistics
• 
  Marriages in Japan over time
• 
  Marriage rate per 1000 people in Japan
• 
  Average age of first marriage in Japan
• 
  Number of divorces in Japan over time
• 
  Divorce rates per 1000 of total population

Naturalized Japanese citizens and native-born Japanese nationals with a multi-ethnic background are all considered to be Japanese in the population census of Japan.^[53]

Discrimination against ethnic minorities

Three native Japanese minority groups can be identified. The largest are the hisabetsu buraku or "discriminated communities", also known as the burakumin. These descendants of premodern outcast hereditary occupational groups, such as butchers, leatherworkers, funeral directors, and certain entertainers, may be considered a Japanese analog of India's Dalits. Historically, discrimination against these occupational groups was based on Buddhist prohibitions on killing and Shinto notions of pollution, and it was also a feature of governmental attempts to maintain social control.^[11]

During the Edo period, such people were required to live in special buraku and, like the rest of the population, they were bound by sumptuary laws which were based on the inheritance of social class. The Meiji government abolished most of the derogatory names which were applied to these discriminated communities in 1871, but the new laws had little effect on the social discrimination which was faced by the former outcasts and their descendants. However, the laws eliminated the economic monopoly which they had on certain occupations.^[11] The buraku continued to be treated as social outcasts and some casual interactions with the majority caste were perceived taboo until the era after World War II.

Estimates of their number range from 2 to 4 million (about 4% of the national population in 2022). Although the members of these marginalized communities are physically indistinguishable from other Japanese, most of them live in urban ghettoes or they live in the traditional special hamlets which are located in rural areas, and as a result, membership in a marginalized group can be surmised from the location of a family's home, a family's occupation, the dialect which a family speaks, or the mannerisms which a family uses when it communicates with people. Checks on the backgrounds of families which were designed to ferret out buraku were commonly performed as a condition of marriage arrangements and employment applications,^[11] but in Osaka, they have been illegal since 1985.

Among the hisabetsu buraku, past and current discrimination against them has resulted in lower educational attainments and it has also resulted in a lower socioeconomic status, by contrast, the majority of Japanese have higher educational attainments and they also have a higher economic status. Movements with objectives which range from "liberation" to the encouragement of integration have attempted to change this situation,^[11] with some success. Nadamoto Masahisa of the Buraku History Institute estimates that as of 1998, between 60 and 80% of burakumin marry a non-burakumin.^[73]

Ryukyuans

One of the largest minority groups among Japanese citizens is the Ryukyuan people.^[74] They are primarily distinguished by their use of several distinct Ryukyuan languages, though use of Ryukyuan is dying out.^[75] The Ryukyuan people and language originated in the Ryukyu Islands, which are in Okinawa prefecture and Kagoshima Prefecture.

Ainu

The third largest minority group among Japanese citizens is the Ainu, whose language is an isolate. Historically, the Ainu were an indigenous hunting and gathering population who occupied most of northern Honshū as late as the Nara period (A.D. 710–94). As Japanese settlement expanded, the Ainu were pushed northward,^[11] by the Tokugawa shogunate, the Ainu were pushed into the island of Hokkaido.^[76]

Characterized as remnants of a primitive circumpolar culture, the fewer than 20,000 Ainu in 1990 were considered racially distinct and thus not fully Japanese. Disease and a low birth rate had severely diminished their numbers over the past two centuries, and intermarriage had brought about an almost completely mixed population.^[11]

Although no longer in daily use, the Ainu language is preserved in epics, songs, and stories transmitted orally over succeeding generations. Distinctive rhythmic music and dances and some Ainu festivals and crafts are preserved, but mainly in order to take advantage of tourism.^[11]

Hāfu

Hāfu (a kana rendition of "half") is a term used for people who are biracial and ethnically half Japanese. Of the one million children born in Japan in 2013, 2.2% had one or two non-Japanese parents.^[70] According to the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, one in forty-nine babies born in Japan today are born into families with one non-Japanese parent.^[77] Most intermarriages in Japan are between Japanese men and women from other Asian countries, including China, the Philippines and South Korea.^[78] Southeast Asia too, also has significant populations of people with half-Japanese ancestry, particularly in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

In the 1940s, biracial Japanese children (Ainoko), specifically Amerasian children, encountered social problems such as poverty, perception of impurity and discrimination due to negative treatment in Japan.^[79] In the 21st century, discrimination against hāfu occurs based on how different their identity, behavior and appearance is from a typical Japanese person.^[80]

In 2021, there were 2,887,116 foreign residents in Japan, representing 2.3% of the Japanese population.^[81] Foreign Army personnel, of which there were up to 430,000 from the SCAP (post-occupation, United States Forces Japan) and 40,000 BCOF in the immediate post-war years, have not been at any time included in Japanese foreign resident statistics.^[82] Most foreign residents in Japan come from Brazil or from other Asian countries, particularly from China, Vietnam, South Korea, the Philippines, and Nepal.^[83][84]

A number of long-term resident Koreans in Japan today retain familial links with the descendants of Koreans,^[85] that either immigrated voluntarily or were forcibly relocated during the Japanese Occupation of the Korea. Within this group, a number hold Special Permanent Resident status, granted under the terms of the Normalisation Treaty (22. June 1965) between South Korea and Japan.^[86] In many cases special residents, despite being born in Japan and speaking Japanese, have chosen not to take advantage of the mostly automatic granting of citizenship to special resident applicants.^[87]

Beginning in 1947 the Japanese government started to repatriate Korean nationals, who had nominally been granted Japanese citizenship during the years of military occupation. When the Treaty of San Francisco came into force many ethnic Koreans lost their Japanese citizenship from April 28, 1952, and with it the right to welfare grants, to hold a government job of any kind or to attend Japanese schools.^[82] In the following year the government contrived, with the help of the Red Cross, a scheme to "repatriate" Korean residents, who mainly were from the Southern Provinces, to their "home" of North Korea.^[88] Between 1959 and 1984 93,430 people used this route, of whom 6,737 were Japanese or Chinese dependents. Most of these departures – 78,276 – occurred before 1962.^[89]

All non-Japanese without special residential status (people whose residential roots go back to before WWII) are required by law to register with the government and carry alien registration cards. From the early 1980s, a civil disobedience movement encouraged refusal of the fingerprinting that accompanied registration every five years.^[11]

Opponents of fingerprinting argued that it was discriminatory because the only Japanese who were fingerprinted were criminals. The courts upheld fingerprinting, but the law was changed so that fingerprinting was done once rather than with each renewal of the registration,^[11] which until a law reform in 1989 was usually required every six months for anybody from the age of 16. Those refusing fingerprinting were denied re-entry permits, thus depriving them of freedom of movement.

Of these foreign residents below, the new wave started in 2014 comes to Japan as students or trainees. These foreigners are registered under student visa or trainee visa, which gives them the student residency status. Most of these new foreigners are under this visa. Almost all of these foreign students and trainees will return to their home country after three to four years (one valid period); few students extend their visa. Vietnamese makes the largest increase, however Burmese, Cambodians, Filipinos and Chinese are also increasing.

Asian migrant wives of Japanese men have also contributed to the foreign-born population in the country. Many young single Japanese male farmers choose foreign wives, mainly from the Philippines, Thailand, China and South Korea, due to a lack of interest from Japanese women living a farming life.^[91] Migrant wives often travel as mail-order brides as a result of arranged marriages with Japanese men.^[92] Additionally, Japanese men in urban parts of the country have also begun marrying foreign Asian women.

Country	1990	2000[93]	2005	2010	2011	2012[94]	2014[95]	2015[96]	2017[97]	2019[98]	2020[48]	2023[99]	Main　article
China	137,499	335,575	519,561	687,156	674,879	652,555[100]	654,777[100]	665,847[100]	711,486	813,675	778,112	821,838	Chinese people in Japan
Vietnam	6,316	16,908	28,932	41,781	44,690	52,364	99,865	146,956	232,562	411,968	448,053	565,026	Vietnamese people in Japan
South Korea	681,838	635,269	598,687	565,989	545,401	530,046	501,230	457,772	452,953	446,364	426,908	410,156	Koreans in Japan
Philippines	38,925	144,871	187,261	210,181	209,376	209,974	217,585	229,595	251,934	282,798	279,660	322,046	Filipinos in Japan
Brazil	14,258	254,394	302,080	230,552	210,032	190,581	175,410	173,437	185,967	211,677	208,538	211,840	Brazilians in Japan
Nepal	399	3,649	6,953	17,525	20,383	24,069	42,346	54,775	74,300	96,824	95,982	176,336	Nepalis in Japan
Indonesia	2,781	19,346	25,097	24,895	24,660	25,530	30,210	35,910	46,350	66,860	66,832	149,101	Indonesians in Japan
Myanmar	894	4,851	5,342	8,577	8,692	8,045	10,252	13,737	20,346	32,049	35,049	86,546	Burmese people in Japan
Taiwan						22,773	40,197	48,723	54,358	64,773	55,872	64,663	Taiwanese people in Japan [jp]
United States	34,900	44,856	49,390	50,667	49,815	48,357	51,256	52,271	54,918	59,172	55,761	63,408	Americans in Japan
Thailand	5,542	29,289	37,703	41,279	42,750	40,130	43,081	45,379	48,952	54,809	53,379	61,771	Thai people in Japan [jp]
Peru	4,121	46,171	57,728	54,636	52,842	49,248	47,978	47,721	47,861	48,669	48,256	52,564	Peruvian migration to Japan
India	2,926	10,064	16,988	22,497	21,501	21,653	24,524	26,244	30,048	40,202	38,558	48,352	Indians in Japan
Sri Lanka	1,064	5,655	9,013	9,097	9,303	8,427	10,741	13,152	20,716	27,367	29,290	46,949	Sri Lankans in Japan
Bangladesh	2,205	7,176	11,015	10,175	9,413	8,622	9,641	10,835	13,033	16,632	17,463	27,962	Bangladeshis in Japan
Pakistan	1,875	7,498	8,789	10,299	10,849	10,597	11,802	12,708	14,312	17,766	19,103	25,334	Pakistanis in Japan
Cambodia	1,148	1,761	2,263	2,683	2,770	2,862	4,090	6,111	9,598	15,020	16,659	23,750	Cambodians in Japan [jp]
United Kingdom	9,272	16,525	17,494	16,044	15,496	14,652	15,262	15,826	16,498	18,631	16,891	19,909	Britons in Japan
Mongolia	23	1,209	3,762	4,949	4,774	4,837	5,796	6,590	8,364	12,797	13,504	19,490	Mongolians in Japan
North Korea								33,939	31,674	28,096	27,214	18,671	Koreans in Japan
France	2,881	5,371	7,337	9,060	8,423	8,455	9,641	10,672	12,273	14,106	12,264	15,054	French people in Japan
Malaysia	4,309	8,386	7,910	8,364	8,136	7,848	8,288	8,738	9,394	10,862	10,318	11,256
Canada	4,172	10,088	12,022	9,995	9,484	9,006	9,286	9,538	10,085	11,118	10,103	11,242
Russia	340[101]	4,893	7,110	7,814	7,566	7,295	7,859	8,092	8,500	9,378	9,249	10,878	Russians in Japan
Australia	3,073	9,188	11,277	9,756	9,166	8,888	9,350	9,843	9,981	12,024	9,758	10,649	Australians in Japan
Germany	3,410	4,295	5,356	5,971	5,303	5,223	5,864	6,336	6,755	7,782	6,114	8,066	Germans in Japan [jp]
Bolivia	238	3,915	6,139	5,720	5,567	5,283	5,333	5,412	5,657	6,096	6,119	6,505
Turkey	190	1,424	2,275	2,547	2,613	2,528	3,654	4,157	5,167	5,419	6,212	6,070	Turks in Japan
Uzbekistan	113	184	495	832	840	938	1,329	1,503	2,269	3,627	3,632	5,984	Uzbeks in Japan [jp]
Italy	890	1,579	2,083	2,731	2,642	2,629	3,267	3,536	4,019	4,702	4,263	5,391	Italians in Japan [jp]
Egypt	703	776	823	945	1,013	1,362	1,794	2,334	2,750	3,247	3,816	4,783	Egyptians in Japan [jp]
Iran	988	6,167	5,227	4,841	4,725	3,996	3,976	3,996	3,988	4,170	4,121	4,368	Iranians in Japan
Ukraine	892	1,004	1,784	1,507	1,479	1,452	1,601	1,699	1,831	1,940	1,865	4,212
Spain	827	1,338	1,585	1,907	1,883	1,822	2,309	2,495	2,852	3,620	3,240	3,890
Laos	864	1,677	2,393	2,639	2,584	2,521	2,556	2,592	2,730	2,965	2,903	3,602
Hungary	343	562	742	913	1,083	1,367	1,674	1,892	2,046	2,657	2,432	3,529
Mexico	691	1,740	1,825	1,956	1,909	1,935	2,033	2,141	2,393	2,889	2,714	3,463
New Zealand	967	3,264	3,824	3,250	3,146	3,109	3,119	3,152	3,217	3,672	3,280	3,441
Argentina	1,704	3,072	3,834	3,181	2,970	2,722	2,651	2,630	2,710	3,077	2,966	3,209
Singapore	1,042	1,940	2,283	2,512	2,440	2,135	2,366	2,501	2,763	3,164	2,958	3,164
Afghanistan	128	430	593	1,148	1,355	1,609	2,154	2,639	2,873	3,350	3,509	3,084
Nigeria	140	1,741	2,389	2,729	2,730	2,377	2,518	2,638	2,845	3,201	3,315	3,017	Nigerians in Japan
Colombia	373	2,496	2,902	2,606	2,505	2,253	2,244	2,268	2,366	2,509	2,482	2,723
Ghana	518	1,657	1,824	1,883	1,729	1,915	2,005	2,235	2,404	2,506	2,005	2,534	Ghanaians in Japan
Romania	42	2,449	3,574	2,409	2,281	2,185	2,245	2,408	2,367	2,332	2,250	2,284	Romanians in Japan [jp]
Paraguay	672	1,678	2,287	2,098	1,984	1,878	1,841	1,880	2,040	2,188	2,131	2,215
Sweden	586	1,158	1,136	1,553	1,579	1,677	1,874	1,805	1,736	1,754	1,514	1,775
Poland	359	742	870	978	951	1,007	1,110	1,653	1,434	1,605	1,408	1,762
Netherlands	749	904	1,079	1,099	1,097	917	1,044	1,129	1,351	1,595	1,294	1,705
South Africa	108	353	564	570	553	542	613	691	873	1,035	1,020	1,345
Switzerland	980	907	971	1,089	1,011	937	986	1,023	1,139	1,189	1,076	1,306
Ireland	671	974	1,094	1,061	1,065	1,072	998	1,026	1,142	1,290	1,128	1,268
Cameroon	6	100	214	343	365	328	454	473	627	857	1,059	1,173
Chile	263	652	712	680	657	607	625	639	691	940	886	1,128
Kenya	118	328	467	546	542	503	609	695	778	789	803	1,022
Total foreign residents	984,455	1,686,444	2,011,555	2,134,151	2,078,508	2,033,656	2,121,831	2,232,189	2,471,458	2,933,137	2,887,116	3,410,992

Foreign residents as of 2015

There was an increase of 110,358 foreign residents from 2014 to 2015. Vietnamese made the largest proportion of these new foreign residents, whilst Nepalese, Filipino, Chinese and Taiwanese are also significant in numbers. Together these countries makes up 91,126 or 82.6% of all new residents from 2014 to 2015. However, the majority of these immigrants will only remain in Japan for a maximum of five years, as many of them have entered the country in order to complete trainee programmes. Once they complete their programmes, they will be required to return to their home countries.^[102]

As of December 2014 there were 2,121,831 foreigners residing in Japan, 677,019 of whom were long-term residents in Japan, according to national demographics figures. The majority of long-term residents were from Asia, totalling 478,953. Chinese made up the largest portion of them with 215,155, followed by Filipinos with 115,857, and Koreans with 65,711. Thai, Vietnamese, and Taiwanese long-term residents totaled 47,956, and those from other Asian countries totaled 34,274. The Korean figures do not include zainichi Koreans with tokubetsu eijusha ("special permanent resident") visas, of whom there were 354,503 (of a total of 358,409 of all nationalities with such visas). The total number of permanent residents had declined over the previous five years due to high cost of living.^[95]

Foreign residents as of 2021

The number of foreign residents of Japan reached a high of 2.93 million in 2019 before falling to 2.76 million at the end of 2021.^[103] The number of foreign workers was 1.46 million in 2018, 29.7% are in the manufacturing sector; 389,000 are from Vietnam and 316,000 are from China.^[104]

On April 1, 2019, Japan's revised immigration law was enacted. The revision clarifies and better protects the rights of foreign workers. Japan formally accepts foreign blue-collar workers. This helps reduce labour shortage in certain sectors of the economy. The reform changes the status of foreign workers to regular employees and they can obtain permanent residence status. The reform includes a new visa status called tokutei gino (特定技能, "designated skills"). In order to qualify, applicants must pass a language and skills test (level N4 or higher of the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test). In the old "Technical Trainee programme" a foreign employee was tied to their employer. This caused numerous cases of exploitation. The revision gives foreign workers more freedom to leave and change their employer.^[105]

• Japanese nationality data mapped in prefectures in 2020
• 
  Japanese nationality (96.3% total)
• 
  Foreign nationality (1.9% total)^{[t 1]}
• 
  No nationality stated (1.7% total)

Shinto and Buddhism are Japan's two major religions. They have co-existed for more than a thousand years. However, most Japanese people generally do not exclusively identify themselves as adherents of one religion, but rather incorporate various elements in a syncretic fashion.^[106] There are small Christian and other minorities as well, with the Christian population dating to as early as the 1500s, as a result of European missionary work before sakoku was implemented from 1635 to 1853.

• Demographic history of Japan before the Meiji Restoration
• Demography of the Empire of Japan
• Elderly people in Japan
• Largest cities in Japan by population by decade

• Details for Japan birth life information. Data is for 2023.

• Media related to Demographics of Japan at Wikimedia Commons
• Japan Population Census 2010
• Expatriates in Japan Archived 2017-06-08 at the Wayback Machine
• "The Dilemma Posed by Japan's Population Decline"—Discussion paper by Julian Chapple in the electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies, 18 October 2004.
• The Exodus to North Korea Museum—Commemorates the story of the 93,340 people who migrated from Japan to North Korea in the period 1959–1984
• Another Tsunami Warning: Caring for Japan's Elderly—Brief on what the future of Japan looks like for an increasingly aging population, and if this demographic transition is limited to Japan alone
• Morita, Kiriro and Saskia Sassen. "The New Illegal Immigration in Japan, 1980–1992". International Migration Review. Vol. 28, No. 1 (Spring 1994), pp. 153–163. JSTOR 2547030.