Japan's population declines amid record low births, foreign residents surge

Japan’s total population has declined for the 15th straight year in 2023, dropping by more than a half-million people as the population ages and births remain low.

Births in Japan hit a record low of 730,000 last year. The 1.58 million deaths last year were also a record high.

Japan's population was 124.9 million as of January 1.

Surveys show that younger Japanese are increasingly reluctant to marry or have children, discouraged by bleak job prospects, the high cost of living — which rises at a faster pace than salaries — and a gender-biased corporate culture that adds a burden only on women and w orking mothers.

The government earmarked 5.3 trillion yen ($34 billion) as part of the 2024 budget to fund incentives for young couples to have more children, such as increasing subsidies for childcare and education and is expected to spend 3.6 trillion yen ($23 billion) in tax money annually over the next three years.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has introduced policies aimed at boosting births, warning the country is "on the verge of whether we can continue to function as a society".

Experts say the measures are largely meant for married couples who plan to have or who already have children, and don't address the growing number of young people reluctant to get married.

Japan’s population is projected to fall by about 30 percent, to 87 million by 2070, when four out of every ten people will be 65 or older.

Record number of foreign residents

According to official data released on Wednesday showed the nation's largest-ever yearly drop in Japanese citizens, and the number of foreign nationals living in Japan has hit a record high.

With chronically low birth rates, Japan has the world's second-oldest population after tiny Monaco.

The government has also been reviewing immigration policies to make moving to Japan more attractive to overseas workers.

As of January 1, there were 3.32 million foreign residents in the country, the figures showed.

That marks an 11 percent increase year over year and a record high since the internal affairs ministry began logging the data in 2013.

Foreign nationals accounted for around 2.7 percent of Japan's total population of 124.9 million.

Japanese media attributed the rise to the end of pandemic-era border controls, which prompted the return of international students and workers taking part in the government's vocational training scheme.

The number of Japanese citizens residing in Japan, meanwhile, stood at 121.6 million, the data showed, with 2023's drop of 861,237 the biggest ever recorded and the 15th straight yearly decline.