For 3rd year in row, net positive migration to Tokyo increases in ’24

For the third consecutive year, net positive migration to Tokyo, or the gap between newcomers and departures, increased in 2024, putting a dent in government efforts to promote regional revitalization, figures show.

The internal affairs ministry, in a report on internal migration released Jan. 31, said 79,285 more people moved to the capital than quit last year, up 11,000 from 2023.

The greater Tokyo metropolitan area, which includes the three prefectures of Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama, recorded a net positive migration of 135,843, up 9,328 from the previous year.

The figures show that the trend toward centralization around the capital, which slowed during the COVID-19 pandemic, is picking up speed again.

Basic resident registration figures showed that 461,454 people moved into Tokyo and 382,169 left the capital in 2024.

Net positive migration to Tokyo dropped to only 5,433 in 2021, partly due to the COVID-19 crisis, but rebounded last year close to the pre-pandemic level of 82,982 in 2019.

Ministry officials said young people in their 20s and early 30s accounted for a large portion of the incomers to Tokyo.

Aside from the capital, only six prefectures saw more people moving in than leaving: Kanagawa with a net positive migration of 26,963; Saitama with 21,736; Chiba with 7,859; Osaka with 16,848; Fukuoka with 4,160; and Yamanashi with 82. The other 40 prefectures saw more people leaving than moving in.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has pledged to step up “regional revitalization” efforts, which he has defined as one of his priority policies.

The statistics show, however, that rectifying centralization is easier said than done.

“The trend still persists for a net positive migration of young people and women moving into Tokyo when they land jobs or go on to higher schools,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a news conference on Jan. 31.

Hayashi expressed hopes that provincial communities will be chosen by “the young and female population” in the future as a result of policies that are being drawn up.