Current Population Estimates as of October 1, 2004

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Population Pyramid

[Total Population]

Total population was 127,687 thousand, and has increased by 67 thousand this past year. The rate of increase was 0.05 percent. Both population increase and the rate were the lowest in the postwar.
Male was 62,295 thousand and female was 65,392 thousand; male decreased for the first time in the postwar period.
The natural increase was 102 thousand, the lowest level in the postwar, with the social decrease of 35 thousand.

[Population by Age Group]

The population aged 0 to 14 (Child population) was 17,734 thousand (13.9 percent of the total population; decreasing of 0.1 point from the previous year).
The population aged 15 to 64 (Productive-age population) was 85,077 thousand (66.6 percent of the total population; decreasing of 0.3 point from the previous year).
The population aged 65 and over (Aged population) was 24,876 thousand (19.5 percent, the record-high rate, of the total population; increasing of 0.5 point from the previous year).
The population aged 90 and over was 1,016 thousand (0.8 percent of the total population). It was up over 1,000 thousand for the first time.

Table1 Composition of Population(as of October1,2004)/Figure1 Number and Rate of Population Increase

[Population by Prefectures]

Six prefectures had a population of six million or more: Tokyo-to, Osaka-fu, Kanagawa-ken, Aichi-ken, Saitama-ken, and Chiba-ken. The top six prefectures made up about 40 percent of the total population.

[Rates of Population Change]

Okinawa-ken had the highest rate of increase in population. Population increased in 12 prefectures, of which 9 prefectures were the natural increase and the social increase.
A decrease in population was seen in 35 prefectures including Akita-ken, increasing 7 prefectures from the previous year. Among population decreased prefectures, 24 prefectures were the natural decrease and the social decrease.

[Population by Age Group]

The percentage of the Child population was highest in Okinawa-ken and lowest in Tokyo-to.
The percentage of the Productive-age population was highest in Saitama-ken and lowest in Shimane-ken.
The percentage of the Aged population was highest in Shimane-ken and lowest in Saitama-ken. This group has risen in all prefectures.
Okinawa-ken is the only prefecture where the Child population exceeded the Aged population.
The increase rate of the Aged population was highest in Saitama-ken (4.5 percent). And there is a tendency that the lower the percentage of the Aged population in prefectures, the larger the increase rate of the one become.

Table2 Population for Prefectures/Table3 Rates of Population Change

Table4 Percentage of Population by Age(3 Groups) for Prefectures/Figure2 Rates of Population Change