The statistic shows the total population in Japan from 2020 to 2024, with projections up until 2030. In 2024, the total population of Japan amounted to around 123.9 million inhabitants. See the figures for the population of South Korea for comparison. Total population in Japan From steadily low fertility rates to a growing elderly population, it is no secret that Japan’s population is shrinking. Population growth rates jump around a little, but are currently following a declining trend. The post-war baby boom generation is now in the 65-and-over age group, and the percentage of the population in that category is expected to keep growing, as is indicated by a high median age and high life expectancy. Japan already has the highest percentage of its population over 65 in the world, and the aging population puts some pressure on the Japanese government to provide welfare services for more people as rising numbers leave the workforce. However, the amount of jobs opened up for the younger generations by the older generations leaving the workforce means that unemployment is kept to a minimum. Despite a jump in unemployment after the global recession hit in 2008, rates were almost back to pre-recession rates by 2013. Another factor affecting Japan is the number of emigrants to other countries. The United States absorbs a number of emigrants worldwide, so despite a stagnating birth rate, the U.S. has seen a steady rise in population.

Key information about Japan population

• The Japan population reached 123.7 million people in Dec 2024, compared with the previously reported figure of 124.3 million people in Dec 2023
• The data reached an all-time high of 128.1 million people in Dec 2010 and a record low of 43.4 million people in Dec 1899

• In the latest reports, Japan Unemployment Rate remained the same at 2.6 % in Oct 2025
• Monthly earnings of the Japan population was 2,013.9 USD in Sep 2025
• Japan Labour Force Participation Rate remained the same rate at 64.2 % in Oct 2025

The total population in Japan was estimated at 123.8 million people in 2024, according to the latest census figures and projections from Trading Economics. This dataset provides - Japan Population - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Collective data of Japan's birth-related statistics from 1899 to 2022. Some data are missing between the years 1944 and 1946 due to records lost during World War II.

For use case and analysis reference, please take a look at this notebook Japan Birth Demographics Analysis

Feature Descriptions

• year: The year.
• birth_total: The total number of births.
• birth_male: The total number of male births.
• birth_female: The total number of female births.
• birth_rate: The birth rate. Equation is birth_total / population_total * 1,000
• birth_gender_ratio: The birth gender ratio. Equation is birth_male / birth_female * 1,000
• total_fertility_rate: The average number of children that are born to a woman over her lifetime.
• population_total: The total population.
• population_male: The total male population.
• population_female: The total female population.
• infant_death_total: The total infant deaths.
• infant_death_male: The total male infant deaths.
• infant_death_female: The total female infant deaths.
• infant_death_unknown_gender: The total unknown gender infant deaths.
• infant_death_rate: The infant death rate. Equation is infant_death_total / birth_total * 1,000
• infant_death_gender_ratio: The infant death gender ratio. Equation is infant_death_male / infant_death_female * 1,000
• infant_deaths_in_total_deaths: The infant death ratio among other deaths.
• stillbirth_total: The total number of stillbirths (dead born).
• stillbirth_male: The total number of male stillbirths.
• stillbirth_female: The total number of female stillbirths.
• stillbirth_unknown_gender: The total number of unknown gender stillbirths.
• stillbirth_rate: The stillbirth rate. Equation is stillbirth_total / (birth_total + stillbirth_total) * 1,000
• stillbirth_gender_ratio: The stillbirth gender ratio. Equation is stillbirth_male / stillbirth_female * 1,000
• firstborn: The number of firstborns.
• secondborn: The number of secondborns.
• thirdborn: The number of thirdborns.
• forthborn: The number of forthborns.
• fifthborn_and_above: The number of fifthborns and above.
• weeks_under_28: The number of births occurred under week 28. Early terms.
• weeks_28-31: The number of births occurred between weeks 28 and 31. Early terms.
• weeks_32-36: The number of births occurred between weeks 32 and 36. Early terms.
• weeks_37-41: The number of births occurred between weeks 37 and 41. Full terms.
• weeks_over_42: The number of births occurred over week 42. Late terms.
• mother_age_avg: The mother's average age.
• mother_age_firstborn: The mother's average age of the firstborn.
• mother_age_secondborn: The mother's average age of the secondborn.
• mother_age_thirdborn: The mother's average age of the thirdborn.
• mother_age_under_19: The number of births by mothers under age 19.
• mother_age_20-24: The number of births by mothers between age 20 and 24.
• mother_age_25-29: The number of births by mothers between age 25 and 29.
• mother_age_30-34: The number of births by mothers between age 30 and 34.
• mother_age_35-39: The number of births by mothers between age 35 and 39.
• mother_age_40-44: The number of births by mothers between age 40 and 44.
• mother_age_over_45: The number of births by mothers over 45.
• father_age_avg: The father's average age.
• father_age_firstborn: The father's average age of the firstborn.
• father_age_secondborn: The father's average age of the secondborn.
• father_age_thirdborn: The father's average age of the thirdborn.
• legitimate_child: The Number of births under married parents.
• illegitimate_child: The number of births under non-married parents.

Acknowledgement

E-Stat Demographic Survey

Graph and download economic data for Population, Total for Japan (POPTOTJPA647NWDB) from 1960 to 2024 about Japan and population.

In 2024, around **** percent of the total population in Japan was aged 65 years and older. Due to a low birth rate and high longevity, people aged 65 years and over were estimated to make up approximately **** percent of the population in Japan by 2070. The share of children below 15 years old was expected to decrease to around *** percent by that year.

In 1800, the population of Japan was just over 30 million, a figure which would grow by just two million in the first half of the 19th century. However, with the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate and the restoration of the emperor in the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Japan would begin transforming from an isolated feudal island, to a modernized empire built on Western models. The Meiji period would see a rapid rise in the population of Japan, as industrialization and advancements in healthcare lead to a significant reduction in child mortality rates, while the creation overseas colonies would lead to a strong economic boom. However, this growth would slow beginning in 1937, as Japan entered a prolonged war with the Republic of China, which later grew into a major theater of the Second World War. The war was eventually brought to Japan's home front, with the escalation of Allied air raids on Japanese urban centers from 1944 onwards (Tokyo was the most-bombed city of the Second World War). By the war's end in 1945 and the subsequent occupation of the island by the Allied military, Japan had suffered over two and a half million military fatalities, and over one million civilian deaths.

The population figures of Japan were quick to recover, as the post-war “economic miracle” would see an unprecedented expansion of the Japanese economy, and would lead to the country becoming one of the first fully industrialized nations in East Asia. As living standards rose, the population of Japan would increase from 77 million in 1945, to over 127 million by the end of the century. However, growth would begin to slow in the late 1980s, as birth rates and migration rates fell, and Japan eventually grew to have one of the oldest populations in the world. The population would peak in 2008 at just over 128 million, but has consistently fallen each year since then, as the fertility rate of the country remains below replacement level (despite government initiatives to counter this) and the country's immigrant population remains relatively stable. The population of Japan is expected to continue its decline in the coming years, and in 2020, it is estimated that approximately 126 million people inhabit the island country.

Population density per pixel at 100 metre resolution. WorldPop provides estimates of numbers of people residing in each 100x100m grid cell for every low and middle income country. Through ingegrating cencus, survey, satellite and GIS datasets in a flexible machine-learning framework, high resolution maps of population counts and densities for 2000-2020 are produced, along with accompanying metadata. DATASET: Alpha version 2010 and 2015 estimates of numbers of people per grid square, with national totals adjusted to match UN population division estimates (http://esa.un.org/wpp/) and remaining unadjusted. REGION: Africa SPATIAL RESOLUTION: 0.000833333 decimal degrees (approx 100m at the equator) PROJECTION: Geographic, WGS84 UNITS: Estimated persons per grid square MAPPING APPROACH: Land cover based, as described in: Linard, C., Gilbert, M., Snow, R.W., Noor, A.M. and Tatem, A.J., 2012, Population distribution, settlement patterns and accessibility across Africa in 2010, PLoS ONE, 7(2): e31743. FORMAT: Geotiff (zipped using 7-zip (open access tool): www.7-zip.org) FILENAMES: Example - AGO10adjv4.tif = Angola (AGO) population count map for 2010 (10) adjusted to match UN national estimates (adj), version 4 (v4). Population maps are updated to new versions when improved census or other input data become available. Data and Resources TIFF Japan - Population density (2015) DATASET: Alpha version 2010 and 2015 estimates of numbers of people per grid...

WorldPop produces different types of gridded population count datasets, depending on the methods used and end application. Please make sure you have read our Mapping Populations overview page before choosing and downloading a dataset.

Datasets are available to download in Geotiff and ASCII XYZ format at a resolution of 30 arc-seconds (approximately 1km at the equator)

-Unconstrained individual countries 2000-2020: Population density datasets for all countries of the World for each year 2000-2020 – derived from the corresponding Unconstrained individual countries 2000-2020 population count datasets by dividing the number of people in each pixel by the pixel surface area. These are produced using the unconstrained top-down modelling method.
-Unconstrained individual countries 2000-2020 UN adjusted: Population density datasets for all countries of the World for each year 2000-2020 – derived from the corresponding Unconstrained individual countries 2000-2020 population UN adjusted count datasets by dividing the number of people in each pixel, adjusted to match the country total from the official United Nations population estimates (UN 2019), by the pixel surface area. These are produced using the unconstrained top-down modelling method.

Data for earlier dates is available directly from WorldPop.

WorldPop (www.worldpop.org - School of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Southampton; Department of Geography and Geosciences, University of Louisville; Departement de Geographie, Universite de Namur) and Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University (2018). Global High Resolution Population Denominators Project - Funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1134076). https://dx.doi.org/10.5258/SOTON/WP00674

Approximately **** million people in Japan were estimated to be within the age group 65 and over in 2024. This number was projected to ******** until 2040 and then ******* to about **** million by 2120.

Graph and download economic data for Population Growth for Japan (SPPOPGROWJPN) from 1961 to 2024 about Japan, population, and rate.

Historical dataset showing total population for Japan by year from 1950 to 2025.

Over the last decade, Japan’s population has aged more and more, to the point where more than a quarter of Japanese were 65 years and older in 2022. Population growth has stopped and even reversed, since it’s been in the red for several years now.

It’s getting old

With almost 30 percent of its population being elderly inhabitants, Japan is considered the “oldest” country in the world today. Japan boasts a high life expectancy, in fact, the Japanese tend to live longer than the average human worldwide. The increase of the aging population is accompanied by a decrease of the total population caused by a sinking birth rate. Japan’s fertility rate has been below the replacement rate for many decades now, mostly due to economic uncertainty and thus a decreasing number of marriages.

Are the Japanese invincible?

There is no real mystery surrounding the ripe old age of so many Japanese. Their high average age is very likely due to high healthcare standards, nutrition, and an overall high standard of living – all of which could be adopted by other industrial nations as well. But with high age comes less capacity, and Japan’s future enemy might not be an early death, but rather a struggling social network.

Japan Population Census: Female: Age 45 to 49 Years data was reported at 4,307,927.000 Person in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 4,005,147.000 Person for 2010. Japan Population Census: Female: Age 45 to 49 Years data is updated yearly, averaging 2,970,735.000 Person from Dec 1920 (Median) to 2015, with 20 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 5,290,031.000 Person in 1995 and a record low of 1,318,163.000 Person in 1920. Japan Population Census: Female: Age 45 to 49 Years data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statistical Bureau. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Japan – Table JP.G002: Population: Annual.

Actual value and historical data chart for Japan Population Ages 65 And Above Percent Of Total

Graph and download economic data for Infra-Annual Labor Statistics: Working-Age Population Total: From 15 to 64 Years for Japan (LFWA64TTJPM647S) from Jan 1970 to Sep 2025 about working-age, 15 to 64 years, Japan, and population.

Graph and download economic data for Population ages 65 and above for Japan (SPPOP65UPTOZSJPN) from 1960 to 2024 about 65-years +, Japan, and population.

Rural population (% of total population) in Japan was reported at 7.866 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Japan - Rural population - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on November of 2025.

Actual value and historical data chart for Japan Population Density People Per Sq Km

Japan Population Census: Age 20 to 24 Years data was reported at 5,968,127.000 Person in 2015. This records a decrease from the previous number of 6,426,433.000 Person for 2010. Japan Population Census: Age 20 to 24 Years data is updated yearly, averaging 7,822,781.000 Person from Dec 1920 (Median) to 2015, with 20 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 10,727,636.000 Person in 1970 and a record low of 4,609,310.000 Person in 1920. Japan Population Census: Age 20 to 24 Years data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statistical Bureau. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Japan – Table JP.G002: Population: Annual.