Japan Records Steepest Population Decline

People walk along a pedestrian crossing at Ginza shopping street on March 31, 2023, in Tokyo. Japan's population declined in all of its 47 prefectures for the first time in a record drop, while its number of foreign residents hit a new high, reaching almost 3 million people, according to government data released Wednesday, July 26, 2023, highlighting the increasing role that non-Japanese people play in the shrinking and aging country. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s population has declined in all of its 47 prefectures for the first time in a record drop, while its population of foreign residents reached a new high of almost 3 million people, highlighting the increasing role that non-Japanese people play in the shrinking and aging country.

Data released Wednesday from the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry based on residency registrations as of Jan. 1 this year showed the population of Japanese nationals fell by about 800,000 people, or 0.65%, to 122.4 million in 2022 from the previous year, falling for a 14th straight year.