Population: 127,078,679 (July 2009 estimate)
country comparison to the world: 11

Age structure:
0-14 years: 13.5% (male 8,804,465/female 8,344,800)
15-64 years: 64.3% (male 41,187,425/female 40,533,876)
65 years and over: 22.2% (male 11,964,694/female 16,243,419)

Median age: total: 44.2 years
male: 42.4 years. female: 46.1 years (2009 estimate)

Population growth rate: -0.191% (2009 estimate)
country comparison to the world: 219

Birth rate: 7.64 births/1,000 population (2009 estimate)
country comparison to the world: 223

Death rate: 9.26 deaths/1,000 population (2008 estimate)
country comparison to the world: 72

Urbanization: urban population: 66% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 0.2% annual rate of change (2005-10 estimate)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.74 male(s)/female
total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2009 estimate)

Infant mortality rate: total: 2.79 deaths/1,000 live births
country comparison to the world: 221
male: 2.99 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 2.58 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 estimate)

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 82.12 years
country comparison to the world: 3
male: 78.8 years, female: 85.62 years (2009 estimate)

Total fertility rate: 1.21 children born/woman (2009 estimate)
country comparison to the world: 218

HIV/AIDS – adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1% (2003 estimate)
country comparison to the world: 153

HIV/AIDS – people living with HIV/AIDS: 9,600 (2007 estimate)
country comparison to the world: 107

HIV/AIDS – deaths: fewer than 100 (2007 estimate)
country comparison to the world: 143

Ethnic groups: Japanese 98.5%, Koreans 0.5%, Chinese 0.4%, other 0.6%
* Up to 230,000 Brazilians of Japanese origin migrated to Japan in the 1990s to work in industries; some have returned to Brazil (2004).

Religions: Shintoism 83.9%, Buddhism 71.4%, Christianity 2%, other 7.8%
*Total adherents exceeds 100% because many people belong to both Shintoism and Buddhism (2005)

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 99%. male: 99%. female: 99% (2002)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):
total: 15 years. male: 15 years. female: 15 years (2006)

Education expenditures: 3.5% of GDP (2005)
country comparison to the world: 128