Japan Population Drops Most Since World War II
Japan’s population dropped in 2011 for a fifth year, falling by the most since World War II, after a record earthquake and tsunami killed thousands, according to the health ministry.
The country’s population fell by 204,000 to 126.24 million people last year, the biggest decline since at least 1947, the earliest year for which government data is available, the ministry said in a statement yesterday.
The number of deaths rose 5.3 percent from 2010 to 1.26 million people, according to the statement. The magnitude-9.0 earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan’s northeast coast on March 11 killed 15,844 people and left 3,451 missing, according to a Dec. 30 statement from the National Police Agency.
To contact the reporter on this story: Aya Takada in Tokyo at atakada2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jason Clenfield in Tokyo at jclenfield@bloomberg.net
Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Takuji Okubo, chief Japan economist at Societe Generale Securities in Tokyo, talks about the nation's economy and central bank monetary policy. Japan’s exports fell for the second straight month as the global economic slowdown and a stronger yen threaten the nation’s recovery from the March earthquake. Okubo speaks with John Dawson on Bloomberg Television's "First Up." (Source: Bloomberg)
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