Japan population drops below 120 million for first time

Japan's population of Japanese residents has fallen below 120 million for the first time in 42 years, government data showed Wednesday.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said 119.74 million Japanese residents were living in Japan as of January 1, down 0.76 percent from a year earlier. The number has declined for 17 consecutive years since peaking in 2009, according to the survey, which began in 1968.

Foreign residents living in Japan reached their highest level since the ministry began keeping those records in 2013. Including foreign residents, Japan's total population stood at 123.8 million.

Japan is facing a low birth rate and an ageing society. World Bank data cited in the item put Japan's median age at 49.9 years, the second oldest in the world after Monaco.

Government figures released in June showed the total fertility rate fell by 0.01 from a year earlier to a record low of 1.14, the 10th straight year of decline. The number of babies born in the country fell by nearly 15,000 to just over 670,000, the lowest since records began in 1899.

The demographic shift has been linked to labour shortages, rising social security costs and a shrinking tax base.