The number of people per household in the entire jurisdiction of Tokyo stands at 1.99, falling below 2.00 for the first time on record, the metropolitan government said Thursday.
As of Jan. 1, the capital had a population of 12,686,067 living in approximately 6.368 million households, based on local resident registration data. Comparable data are available dating back to 1957.
While the number of people per household in Tokyo's 23 wards already fell below 2.00 in 2005, the decreasing trend has spread to the general metropolitan area. The number of elderly Tokyoites living alone after the death of their spouses is increasing outside the 23 wards, a metropolitan government official said.