Japanese nationals saw a record population decline in 2025 while the number of foreign residents hit an all-time high, the internal affairs ministry reported on July 29.

According to the resident registry, Japanese citizens stood at 119,736,483 as of Jan. 1 this year with 916,744 fewer people, or 0.76 percent, from a year earlier. This marked the largest annual decline on record.

The number of foreign nationals increased by 353,696, or 9.62 percent, to 4,031,159, the highest figure since the survey began in 2013.

The survey logged the 17th consecutive year of Japanese population decline after the number of citizens peaked in 2009. Tokyo was the only prefecture where this demographic grew.

All 47 prefectures saw an upswing in international residents, with the overall total reflecting the fourth consecutive year of gains.

The combined population of Japanese citizens and foreign residents came to 123,767,642, down 563,048 from a year earlier.

As for Japanese nationals, working-age individuals, defined by those ages 15 to 64, accounted for about 60 percent of the total population at 70,748,417.

Children between the ages of 0 to 14 stood at 13.323,730, while the number of people 65 and older reached 35,664,327.

Children made up 11.13 percent of the population, down 0.25 percentage point from a year earlier.

The silvering demographic rose 0.21 point to 29.79 percent, further highlighting the country’s aging population and ongoing trend of falling births.

The number of Japanese babies born in 2025 fell to a record low 670,467. Deaths among Japanese citizens declined from the previous year to 1,593,475, but natural population change, which measures the gap between births and deaths, recorded the largest drop ever with a decrease of 923,008.

Among foreign nationals, births reached a record high 22,835 and deaths totaled 9,109.