Population: 126,182,077 (July 1999 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 15% (male 9,697,851; female 9,242,027)
15-64 years: 68% (male 43,405,024; female 43,023,885)
65 years and over: 17% (male 8,686,347; female 12,126,943) (1999 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.2% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 10.48 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate: 8.12 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.34 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.72 male(s)/female
total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (1999 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 4.07 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 80.11 years
male: 77.02 years
female: 83.35 years (1999 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.48 children born/woman (1999 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Japanese (singular and plural)
adjective: Japanese

Ethnic groups: Japanese 99.4%, other 0.6% (mostly Korean)

Religions: observe both Shinto and Buddhist 84%, other 16% (including Christian 0.7%)

Languages: Japanese

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99% (1970 est.)
male: NA%
female: NA%