Friday, October 28, 2016

Japan’s population declines in 2015 for first time since 1920

The Japan Times
October 28, 2016 | Unit 2: Population


Synopsis

For the first time since the census began in 1920, Japan's population has declined. The census, which is collected every five years, shows that in 2010 Japan's population was 128,057,352 while in 2015 it was 127,094,745, which resulted in a decline of 947,305 people. People aged 65 or older hit a record high of 26.6 percent of the total population while people aged 14 and younger hit a record low of 12.6 percent. Japan is still the 10th most populous country in the world, but it was the only country of the top 20 to have its population decline. Of the 127,094,745 people in Japan, 1,752,368 were not of Japanese descent.

Analysis

Similar to last weeks article, this one discusses a population declining in size. However, this one deals with Japan and the present day. When the article discussed the sizes of age groups in the population, it drew to mind a population pyramid. In this situation, the population pyramid would be flipped, as the older population at the top would be larger than the younger population at the bottom. In addition, this article was interesting because it discussed the size of different nationalities inside Japan. Japanese made up the largest group by far. They were followed by in turn Chinese and then North and South Koreans. This article relates to what is being learned in class because it discusses how Japan, one of the world's most populous countries, is beginning to decrease in size. 

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