Japan's population was 126,284,805 as of March 31, up 213,500, or 0.17 percent, from a year earlier, the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry said Friday.
There were 1,180,565 births in the year up to the end of fiscal 2000, with the average number of residents per household at 2.63. Both figures are record lows, the ministry said, citing the results of a survey of resident registers.
The proportion of people age 65 or older was 17.69 percent, up 0.62 percentage point. Younger generations and the population of working-age people have been decreasing annually. There were 61,902,999 men and 64,381,806 women in the survey period, living in 48,015,251 households, up 595,346, or 1.26 percent.