TOKYO -- The number of Japanese citizens fell by 505,046 last year, the steepest decline in data going back to 1968, official figures released Wednesday show.
The tally sank for an 11th consecutive year in 2019 to 124.27 million as of Jan. 1, according to an annual government survey based on the national resident registry. The natural decline, or the difference between deaths and births, came to an all-time high of 511,998.
