Tokyo (AFP) – The number of Japanese people living in the country has fallen below 120 million for the first time in 42 years, government data showed Wednesday, as the nation confronts a low birth rate and an ageing society.

As of January 1, the population of Japanese residents in Japan stood at 119.74 million, down 0.76 percent from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

The population of Japanese residents has been declining for 17 consecutive years since peaking in 2009, according to the survey, which began in 1968.

However, the population of foreign residents living in Japan reached its highest level since record-keeping began in 2013, according to the ministry.

Including them, the total population stands at 123.8 million.

With a median age of 49.9 years, Japan has the second-oldest population in the world after Monaco, according to the World Bank.

Data in June showed that Japan’s fertility rate fell again last year to a new record low, underscoring the demographic crisis gnawing at the world’s fourth-largest economy.

The slow-burning emergency is already leading to labour shortages, a ballooning social security bill and a shrinking tax base.

Government figures showed the total fertility rate – the average number of children a woman is expected to have during her lifetime – dropped by 0.01 from a year earlier to 1.14, the 10th straight year of decline.

The number of babies born in the country fell by nearly 15,000 to just over 670,000, the lowest figure since records began in 1899.

A removed of light came this month with news that that 265 couples had married thanks to an AI-powered dating app launched by the Tokyo government.

TOKYO Enmusubi went live in September 2024 after a survey found that around 70 percent of people interested in marriage were not actively engaging in matchmaking.

To overcome this reluctance and ensure that only people interested in tying the knot joined, those signing up had to prove that they were legally single and pass an online interview, among other conditions.

As of June 30 this year, the app had 16,000 registered members – whittled down from around 36,000 applicants – and 760 couples in “serious relationships”, according to government data released this month.

The government quoted one woman with the pseudonym “Turtle” as saying she tried the app “as a last chance” as she approached her 40th birthday.

“After going on several blind dates, I met my current husband at the end of August, and we started a serious relationship in mid-September,” she said.

“I accepted his proposal at the end of December.”