Population

The population of Japan is around 124 million people. The Japanese refer to themselves as nihondzin, i.e. “the people of the land of the rising sun”. Most of the population lives in cities. The ten largest Japanese cities are: Tokyo (over 12 million people), Yokohama (3.5 million people), Osaka (2.8 million people), Nagoya (2.2 million people), Sapporo (1.7 million people), Kobe (1.5 million people), Kyoto (1.5 million people), Fukuoka (1.23 million people), Kawasaki (1.2 million people), Hiroshima (1.1 million people), and Kitakyushu (1.026 million people).

In the last decades there has been reduction of population (birth rate falls slowly but steadily) and its ageing (the share of elderly people is growing due to the high standard of living and the increase in the average life expectancy: 76 years for men and 82 for women). At present the share of elderly people is about 20%.

Mother with child. Japan. The Japanese. Early 20th cent.		Group portrait of children at Fuji. Japan. The Japanese. Early 20th cent.		The noblemen. Japan. The Japanese. Mid-to-late 19th cent.