Japan’s population has recorded its steepest decline since national census records began more than a century ago, underscoring the growing demographic challenges facing the world’s fourth-largest economy.

Preliminary results from Japan’s 2025 national census, released on Friday, show that the country’s population fell to 123 million, a decrease of more than three million people compared with the 2020 census. The 2.5 percent decline over five years is the largest recorded since the census was first conducted in 1920 and is three times greater than the decline reported between 2015 and 2020.

Government spokesperson Minoru Kihara said the findings confirm that Japan’s population decline is accelerating.

The country continues to struggle with one of the world’s lowest birth rates and a rapidly aging population. While immigration has been proposed as a way to offset demographic losses, some policymakers, including Sanae Takaichi, have advocated stricter controls on immigration.

Official figures for 2025 show that births fell for the tenth consecutive year, with only 705,809 babies born nationwide.

In response to the demographic crisis, national and local authorities have introduced a range of measures to encourage marriage and childbearing, including dating initiatives, expanded childcare benefits, and greater parental leave support. However, these efforts have so far achieved only limited results.