Japan's population shrank 0.7 percent over the past five years and now stands at 127.1 million, the internal affairs ministry said Friday, citing figures from the partial census conducted on Oct. 1.
Population drops have been estimated as far back as 2012, when the ministry calculated that 2011 was the tipping point, but this is the first time a drop has been confirmed by a census. The twice-a-decade counts have been conducted since 1920.
The ministry did not release a breakdown of residents by nationality Friday, but an official said the foreign population is rising. That rise, however, is not large enough to offset the decline in the Japanese.