Japan elderly population hits fresh high at 29.4%: 2025 census

The most recent census conducted in Japan has revealed a record-high proportion of elderly residents, with people aged 65 and over making up 29.4% of the country's population, according to the finalized 2025 census results released on Tuesday. This figure represents a 0.9 percentage point increase from the previous survey conducted in 2020, highlighting the rapidly aging society in Japan.

The overall population of Japan, including foreign residents, fell by 3.17 million, or 2.5%, to 122,972,528 as of October 1, 2024, according to the census. This decline marks the third consecutive year of population decrease. The Tokyo metropolitan area saw the highest concentration of the population, accounting for 30.1%, surpassing the 30% threshold for the first time.

Foreign residents continued to grow, reaching a record high of 3,840,039, which is a 39.8% increase from 2020. Among prefectures, Akita in northeastern Japan had the highest proportion of elderly residents at 40.0%, up 2.5 percentage points from 2020, and it has consistently held this position for the last four surveys since 2010.

Kochi in western Japan and Aomori in northeastern Japan followed with 36.9% and 36.3% of their populations being aged 65 and above, respectively. Tokyo, on the other hand, had the lowest percentage of elderly residents at 22.8%.

The reliability of the latest census data has been questioned due to allegations that the city of Toyama overstated its population by at least 2,000 people. The internal affairs ministry filed a complaint with Toyama police against an unidentified city official for allegedly violating the Statistics Act. This marks the first time the ministry has taken such action regarding a census, as they suspect officials involved in the overreporting of not treating certain reports as indicating the absence of households.