Foreign residents in Japan near 3m as citizen population takes record drop

Number of Japanese citizens declines in all regions for the first time

Japan's citizen population declined by more than 800,000 last year, the largest drop on record. (Photo by Arisa Moriyama)

KENTARO SHIOZAKI, SEIYA TSUJI and RIKU TAZAKI, Nikkei staff writers

July 26, 2023 05:16 JST

TOKYO -- The number of Japanese citizens has fallen in every prefecture for the first time on record, but the number of foreign residents is nearing 3 million, helping underpin communities, new government data shows.

The population with Japanese citizenship totaled 122.4 million as of Jan. 1, down 800,523 from a year earlier for the largest drop in data going back to 1968, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications reported Wednesday.