Share of children, working-age adults, and older people in Japan

Japan: Share of children, working-age adults, and older people was 14.49 million people in 2023. ▼ Falling

Latest (2023)
14.49 million people
Change on year
down 2.3%
World rank
28th
of 236 countries
All-time high
30.94 million people
in 1953
All-time low
14.49 million people
in 2023
Years of data
74
1950–2023

Share of children, working-age adults, and older people in Japan, 1950–2023

010.0M20.0M30.0M195019862023

Source: UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – processed by Our World in Data. Measured in people.

Analysis

Japan recorded 14.49 million people for share of children, working-age adults, and older people in 2023. That is the lowest value across all 74 years on record.

Compared with earlier readings it is down 2.3% on the previous year and down 13.3% over ten years.

Over the whole period, share of children, working-age adults, and older people in Japan peaked at 30.94 million people in 1953 and was at its lowest, 14.49 million people, in 2023.

That places Japan 28th out of 236 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the top quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 74 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1950s 30.23 million people 28.85 million people 30.94 million people 10
1960s 26.07 million people 24.50 million people 28.76 million people 10
1970s 26.57 million people 24.82 million people 27.81 million people 10
1980s 26.04 million people 23.06 million people 27.74 million people 10
1990s 20.05 million people 18.49 million people 22.24 million people 10
2000s 17.69 million people 17.25 million people 18.27 million people 10
2010s 16.44 million people 15.67 million people 17.14 million people 10
2020s 14.97 million people 14.49 million people 15.44 million people 4

Countries ranked near Japan

  1. 25 Angola 16.38 million people compare
  2. 26 Yemen 16.24 million people compare
  3. 27 Mozambique 15.05 million people compare
  4. 29 Algeria 14.14 million people compare
  5. 30 Myanmar 13.27 million people compare
  6. 31 Cote d'Ivoire 12.86 million people compare

See the full ranking of 236 places →

More population data for Japan

All data for Japan →

Frequently asked questions

What is share of children, working-age adults, and older people in Japan?
Share of children, working-age adults, and older people in Japan was 14.49 million people in 2023, according to UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – processed by Our World in Data.
What is the highest share of children, working-age adults, and older people recorded in Japan?
The highest recorded value was 30.94 million people in 1953.
What is the lowest share of children, working-age adults, and older people recorded in Japan?
The lowest recorded value was 14.49 million people in 2023.
How does Japan rank for share of children, working-age adults, and older people?
Japan ranks 28th out of 236 countries with data for 2023.
Is share of children, working-age adults, and older people rising or falling in Japan?
Over the last ten years it is down 13.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this Japan data come from?
The figures come from UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of children, working-age adults, and older people. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 74 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

About this data

Indicator
Share of children, working-age adults, and older people
Unit
people
Source
UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
236 places, 17,464 data points, 1950–2023
Last refreshed

The total population, measured on 1 July of the year shown. This only includes people aged 0-14.