Population: 126,549,976 (July 2000 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 15% (male 9,575,637; female 9,105,713)
15-64 years: 68% (male 43,363,054; female 42,980,253)
65 years and over: 17% (male 9,024,015; female 12,501,304) (2000 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.18% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 9.96 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 8.15 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 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 (2000 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 3.91 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 80.7 years
male: 77.51 years
female: 84.05 years (2000 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.41 children born/woman (2000 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%