Japan's latest census data shows that the country's population has dropped to just above 123 million, marking its largest decline ever over a five-year period.

The internal affairs ministry released the preliminary tally for the 2025 national census on Friday. Japan began conducting the survey on a five-year basis in 1920.

The latest survey indicates that the population stood at 123,049,524 as of October 1 last year.

The figure fell by 3,096,575 from the previous survey in 2020. That is a decline of 2.5 percent.

The count recorded the third decrease in a row since 2015, when the population marked its first decline.

The number of residents rose in two of the country's 47 prefectures. Tokyo posted an increase of 199,000 people and Okinawa 1,000. But the pace of increase slowed in both.

The other 45 prefectures all recorded population decreases. Hokkaido had the biggest drop with 239,000 fewer people. Shizuoka and Hyogo followed with declines of 164,000 and 141,000, respectively.

The number of households was 57,124,507, up about 1.294 million from the previous census, and marks the highest since comparable data became available in 1970.

But the number of people per household fell from 2.26 to 2.15. The internal affairs ministry suggests that an increasing number of elderly people are living in one-person households.

The ministry plans to release the final figures by September.

NHK