Japan’s prime minister calls population decline a national crisis
Japan’s prime minister has promised a strategy to tackle population decline by the end of 2026, as new figures point to a falling and ageing population.
What has changed? · 05/10/2026, 06:42 UTC
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In a speech to parliament, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi described Japan’s population decline as a national crisis advancing quietly. She promised to draw up a strategy to address it before the end of 2026. [1]
Japan’s population fell by 2.5% between 2020 and 2025, according to Interior Ministry figures cited by the Japan Times and reported by Nieuws.nl. The decline was greater among Japanese nationals alone, while the number of foreign residents rose. [1]
Nieuws.nl reports that Japan had 122.9 million residents at the end of 2025. It also says the number of residents aged 100 or older passed 100,000 for the first time in September 2026. [1]
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