Japanese Population Logs Largest Decrease of 908,574

Tokyo, Aug. 6 (Jiji Press)–The number of Japanese people living in Japan as of Jan. 1 fell by 908,574, or 0.75 pct, from a year before, marking the largest decrease on record and down for the 16th year in a row, a government survey showed Wednesday.

The number of Japanese residents totaled 120,653,227, based on the nation’s resident registry, according to the internal affairs ministry survey.

Of the Asian nation’s 47 prefectures, Tokyo was the only one that logged an increase in Japanese residents, with their number up by 16,825, or 0.13 pct, to 13,281,311, accounting for 11.01 pct of all Japanese residents.

Of the remaining 46 prefectures, Akita marked the largest drop in such residents, down by 1.91 pct, followed by Aomori, falling by 1.72 pct, and Kochi, with a decline of 1.71 pct.

The number of foreign residents in the country rose by 354,089, or 10.65 pct, to 3,677,463, the highest since the ministry started taking statistics for such residents in 2013. The population of foreign nationals logged double-digit growth for the third consecutive year.