Japan Sees First Population Decline Since 1920s

According to Japan’s internal affairs ministry, the country as of last October has a population of 127.1 million people representing a drop of 0.7% from the last census that was conducted in 2010.

Japan needs more people

The drop in population doesn’t come as a tremendous surprise as demographers had long predicted that this drop and were, quite frankly, surprised that it had taken this long to manifest.

Then primary reasons for the drop is Japan’s falling birth rate and lack of immigration. Immigrating to Japan is no easy feat and the cost of living is so high that it’s not high on a number of people’s lists. Additionally, Japanese culture and language can be quite intimidating to non-Japanese poised to start a life there.