Japan's population dropped for a fifth consecutive year in 2011, falling by the most since World War II after a record earthquake and tsunami killed thousands, according to the health ministry.
The population shrank by 204,000 to reach a total of 126.24 million people last year — Japan's biggest decline since at least 1947, the earliest year for which government data are available, the ministry said in a statement Sunday.
Deaths rose 5.3 percent from 2010 to 1.26 million people, the statement said.
The magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that rocked the northeast coast on March 11 killed 15,844 people and left 3,451 missing as of Dec. 30, according to the National Police Agency.