2021 Population Ranking by Prefecture – Ranked Based on Population Estimates and Census Data

This site also provides other ranking pages (number of tourist visitors and GDP by prefecture) based on the latest data as of August 2021.

Using the Latest Census Results and Population Estimates as of August 2021

The data used in this Population Ranking by Prefecture is based on the latest data (as of August 2021) and is ranked based on the 2010 (2010) and 2015 (2015) Population Census results and 2019 (2019) Population Estimates.

In the table below, the order in which the prefectures are displayed changes when you click on each title or number of years, which are colored in black. You can sort the table in order of increasing or decreasing numbers to see which prefectures are growing or decreasing.

The unit of population in the displayed data is in thousands, so in the case of 13921, please consider it as 13,921,000 people. Percentage change is % compared to the previous year. The data for the gender ratio is the number of males for every 100 females. 96.8 means that there are 96.8 males for every 100 females. The regional blocs are Tohoku for Hokkaido and Kyushu for Okinawa.

Of the 47 Prefectures, Only Capital City and 5 Prefectures are Experiencing Population Growth

For more information, please see “Ranking of 47 Prefectures by Japanese and Foreign Visitors to Japan 2019: Comparing Domestic Travel Destinations” in “Japanese Domestic Travel Destinations: Ranking of Prefectures”.

Trends in the two major cities are divergent – Osaka is declining, while Aichi is rising

While Okinawa is followed by Saitama (+2.7%) in third place and Kanagawa (+2.4%) in fourth place, the nearby prefecture of Chiba is in the top seven, with a slight increase of +0.8%. One rank higher than Chiba is Shiga Prefecture (+1.1%), which was ranked 26th in population but is now 6th, actually closer to Okinawa Prefecture (25th) in population. One would like to know what efforts Shiga Prefecture is making. It is disappointing that the prefecture with the top population, Osaka Prefecture, had a slight decrease of -0.3% between 2010 and 2015, and a slight decrease of -0.4% even in 2019. Even large cities differ from Tokyo. Hyogo and Kyoto prefectures in the same Kansai region also saw declines in the -3% range.

Aichi Prefecture in the top 5 is up +2.1%, but Shizuoka Prefecture in the same Chubu region is down -4.3% in 14th place. Elsewhere, we hear that Fukuoka’s population is increasing, but that is only in the cities, and Fukuoka Prefecture as a whole was ranked 9th with a -0.7% decrease. The largest decrease among the top 10 in population ranking was in Hokkaido, -6.8%, and this data shows a wider decrease.

Among the Seven Regional Blocs, Only the Kanto Region is Experiencing Population Growth

Looking at the data for 2010, 2015, and 2019, only the Kanto region shows an increasing trend. Within the Kanto region, Tokyo (2.7%), Saitama (1.0%), Kanagawa (0.9%), and Chiba (0.1%) prefectures show population increases. The Chubu region, while showing a declining trend in population, shows a decreasing range of decline in this data. On the other hand, the Shikoku and Tohoku regions continue to show declining rates in the 3% range.

Akita Prefecture (38th in population) has the highest rate of decrease at -14.8%. Next is Aomori Prefecture with -13.1%, ranking 31st in population, followed by Yamagata Prefecture with -11.5%, ranking 35th in population. Yamagata Prefecture is next with -11.5%, ranking 35th in terms of population, followed by three prefectures in the Tohoku region. Kochi Prefecture in the Shikoku region is also at -11.5% and ranks 45th in population. Next are Iwate at -11.2%, Tokushima at -10.9%, Nagasaki at -10.5%, Wakayama at -10.5%, and Niigata at -10%, all in double-digit declines. Five of the six prefectures in the Tohoku region are in the top 10 prefectures with double-digit declines… That’s tough.

Miyagi Prefecture, also in the Tohoku region, is in the top 12 in terms of rate of increase/decrease, with a not so large -4% decrease. Miyagi Prefecture is also in the top rank in terms of population, at 14th (2,306,000). The difference between Miyagi Prefecture and other prefectures in the Tohoku region is one of the reasons why the population of Sendai City continues to grow.

Population Size Affects Economic Growth – How did the Economy do in 2019?

Before the Corona Virus Pandemic, the global economy in 2019 is reported to have slowed down with repeated downward revisions to GDP growth forecasts. As for the Japanese economy, while external demand (net exports) was weak, domestic demand (personal consumption, capital investment, public demand, etc.) was the driving force behind four consecutive quarters of positive growth since the fourth quarter of 2018. It is said that this may be due to the robustness of the non-manufacturing sector, which is less susceptible to the impact of external demand, supporting corporate and household incomes, and the functioning of a self-sustaining economic virtuous circle around production, income, and spending.