Alien residents of Japan

By sex, age, and nationality, 2000

By William Wetherall

First posted 23 March 2006
Last updated 15 September 2010

The following tables show both census and registered alien populations in Japan for the year 2000, broken down by sex and age group. The alien registration figures are further broken down by nationality.

Changes in sex and age compositions

The sex and age compositions of the various nationalities of alien residents in Japan differ greatly by nationality, but have been changing over time for every nationality, including Japanese.

From 1945 until the late 1980s, the foreign national population in Japan was dominated by Koreans and Taiwanese who had either settled in the prefectures as Japanese subjects, or were born to such people before or after they lost their Japanese nationality as a consequence of peace treaties, and Chinese who had settled in Japan before 1945 and their Japan-born offspring.

By the 1980s, the sex and age compositions of the resident Kankoku/Chosen (ROK/legacy Chosen) and Chugoku (ROC/PRC) populations had become very much like the Japanese population. Since late 1980s, however, the resident alien population has rapidly grown as migrants from many countries have come to Japan. And the sex and age compositions of the new migrant populations greatly differed by nationality.

Trends

In general, recent foreign migrants are mostly younger people. Chinese and Koreans tend to come as singles, but many Brazilians and Peruvians are bringing their families.

Koreans

Since the late 1980s, the percentage of Koreans in Japan, who were in the prefectures at the end of World War II or were since born in Japan, had been rapidly decreasing and now stands at only about eighty percent.

The sex and age composition of this long-settled and largely Japan-born population is generally very similar to that of the Japanese population. The postwar baby boom (50-54) is evident in the Korean male population, and both populations reflect the secondary baby boom (25-34) -- both shown in purple.

However, the sex ratios for adult Koreans show a slight imbalance of more females.

Chinese

Even when Taiwan was part of Japan, there were more mainland Chinese than Taiwanese in Japan. Slightly more than half of those that were in Japan at the end of the war and stayed were from the mainland, not Taiwan -- though Taiwan was returned to ROC, and until Japan recognized PRC all were treated as ROC nationals.

Alien registration statistics, however, breakdown Korean and Chinese nationals by province of registration in Korea (ROK/DPRK) and China (ROC/PRC). Until the late 1980s, the numbers of mainland and Taiwan Chinese remained fairly close. But in the past two decades, migration from the mainland has risen so rapidly that recent migrants from the mainland now accounted for 88 percent in 2000 and surpassed 90 percent in 2002.

The sexual imbalance toward more young Chinese women than men is somewhat more pronounced than that of the Korean population.

Filipinos

Vastly more Filipino women than men -- tens times as many for those between 20-34 -- have been migrating to Japan, mostly as entertainers or brides.

Brazilians and Peruvians

In contrast with the female imbalance of Koreans and Chinese migrating to Japan, more Brazilian and Peruvian males than females are migrating to Japan. In fact, most of these migrants are entering Japan as foreigners of second or third Japanese ancestry or as spouses or children of such foreigners.

Americans and others

Americans coming to Japan are predominately males. All other foreigners are also, as a single cohort, quite a bit more likely than Brazilians or Peruvians to be men -- except those in their late teens, who are more likely to be women.

Registered aliens in Japan, 2000
Populations by sex, nationality, and age group
Compiled, compulted, and designed by William Wetherall, March 2006
Legend @   Maximum population age groups of baby boomers (50-54) and offspring (25-34)
@   Maximum population age groups of predominately younger nationalities
Males  National census counts @  Alien registration counts @ @ @ @ @
Japan  Japanese Aliens  Aliens  Korean  Chinese  Filipino  Brazilian  Peruvian  American  Other‚“ 
All ages 62,110,764 61,489,718 621,046 796,928 302,253 147,341 21,662 140,485 25,594 28,171 131,422
0-4 3,022,521 2,994,566 27,955 33,051 9,092 5,611 1,672 8,821 1,846 945 5,064
5-9 3,083,431 3,059,217 24,214 28,798 11,532 4,842 1,407 5,679 1,276 925 3,137
10-14 3,353,150 3,327,370 25,780 29,459 13,938 5,501 973 5,165 1,111 730 2,041
15-19 3,833,984 3,799,600 34,384 41,172 18,418 6,851 1,040 9,743 1,127 904 3,089
20-24 4,307,242 4,243,859 63,383 85,442 21,991 20,505 2,217 19,998 1,858 2,653 16,220
25-29 4,965,277 4,882,084 83,193 113,276 30,866 25,860 3,138 21,721 3,267 3,703 24,721
30-34 4,436,818 4,354,603 82,215 111,342 27,369 23,474 3,670 18,768 4,520 4,332 29,209
35-39 4,096,286 4,025,226 71,060 95,716 25,357 21,864 3,113 15,529 3,817 3,867 22,169
40-44 3,924,171 3,873,623 50,548 66,374 23,050 12,475 2,065 11,358 2,768 2,989 11,669
45-49 4,467,772 4,425,700 42,072 52,814 24,355 7,403 1,221 9,351 1,882 2,331 6,271
50-54 5,210,038 5,174,238 35,800 44,553 25,931 4,286 667 7,294 1,102 1,716 3,557
55-59 4,290,239 4,264,397 25,842 31,307 20,480 2,234 220 4,865 654 1,050 1,804
60-64 3,749,528 3,731,102 18,426 21,411 16,167 1,804 116 1,631 207 553 933
65-69 3,357,281 3,344,958 12,323 13,921 10,921 1,343 54 458 87 491 567
70-74 2,670,270 2,660,796 9,474 10,494 8,267 1,125 50 77 48 467 460
75+ 3,194,565 3,180,188 14,377 17,797 14,519 2,163 39 27 24 515 510
Unknown 148,191 148,191 1 1
Females  National census counts @  Alien registration counts @ @ @ @ @
Japan  Japanese Aliens  Aliens  Korean  Chinese  Filipino  Brazilian  Peruvian  American  Other‚“ 
All ages 64,815,079 64,125,580 689,499 889,516 333,016 188,234 123,209 113,909 20,577 16,685 93,886
0-4 2,881,577 2,854,814 26,763 31,583 8,573 5,324 1,657 8,547 1,753 874 4,855
5-9 2,938,358 2,914,975 23,383 27,593 10,840 4,639 1,565 5,326 1,188 889 3,146
10-14 3,193,462 3,168,366 25,096 28,699 13,241 5,362 1,179 5,045 1,034 757 2,081
15-19 3,654,181 3,619,990 34,191 41,088 17,991 7,971 1,320 8,472 1,078 699 3,557
20-24 4,114,218 4,040,124 74,094 110,901 24,899 30,213 20,576 16,744 1,672 2,053 14,744
25-29 4,825,032 4,725,557 99,475 138,489 31,834 35,968 29,940 17,497 2,830 1,817 18,603
30-34 4,339,792 4,237,697 102,095 136,662 30,072 32,607 36,782 14,640 3,422 1,736 17,403
35-39 4,018,579 3,937,859 80,720 103,415 29,430 26,582 18,726 11,518 2,714 1,677 12,768
40-44 3,876,048 3,818,683 57,365 71,883 29,306 15,800 7,167 8,586 1,924 1,570 7,530
45-49 4,448,236 4,404,042 44,194 54,673 28,211 10,296 2,423 6,916 1,318 1,345 4,164
50-54 5,231,952 5,198,029 33,923 41,589 26,106 5,287 983 5,237 810 982 2,184
55-59 4,443,933 4,418,262 25,671 30,724 21,920 2,648 428 3,531 444 604 1,149
60-64 3,986,305 3,966,700 19,605 22,952 18,448 1,728 248 1,297 209 387 635
65-69 3,748,658 3,734,428 14,230 16,463 13,833 1,122 119 430 101 497 361
70-74 3,230,306 3,219,578 10,728 11,924 10,022 1,006 63 86 52 407 288
75+ 5,804,072 5,786,106 17,966 20,878 18,290 1,681 33 37 28 391 418
? 80,370 80,370
Data National census counts, 1 October 2000, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (Somusho), Statistics Bureau (Tokeikyoku)
Registered alien counts, 31 December 2000, Ministry of Justice (Homusho), Immigration Bureau (Shutsunyukoku Kanri Kyoku)
Registered aliens in Japan, 2000
Ratios of men to women by nationality and age group
Compiled and designed by William Wetherall, March 2006
Legend @   Baby boomers (50-54)
@   Notably more men than women, absolutely and relative to Japanese population
@   Notably more women than men, absolutely and relative to Japanese population
Ratios  National census counts @  Alien registration counts @ @ @ @ @
100*M/F Japan  Japanese Aliens  Aliens  Korean  Chinese  Filipino  Brazilian  Peruvian  American  Other‚“ 
All ages 95.8 95.9 90.1 89.6 90.8 78.3 17.6 123.3 124.4 168.8 140.0
0-4 104.9 104.9 104.5 104.6 106.1 105.4 100.9 103.2 105.3 108.1 104.3
5-9 104.9 104.9 103.6 104.4 106.4 104.4 89.9 106.6 107.4 104.0 99.7
10-14 105.0 105.0 102.7 102.6 105.3 102.6 82.5 102.4 107.4 96.4 98.1
15-19 104.9 105.0 100.6 100.2 102.4 85.9 78.8 115.0 104.5 129.3 86.8
20-24 104.7 105.0 85.5 77.0 88.3 67.9 10.8 119.4 111.1 129.2 110.0
25-29 102.9 103.3 83.6 81.8 97.0 71.9 10.5 124.1 115.4 203.8 132.9
30-34 102.2 102.8 80.5 81.5 91.0 72.0 10.0 128.2 132.1 249.5 167.8
35-39 101.9 102.2 88.0 92.6 86.2 82.3 16.6 134.8 140.6 230.6 173.6
40-44 101.2 101.4 88.1 92.3 78.7 79.0 28.8 132.3 143.9 190.4 155.0
45-49 100.4 100.5 95.2 96.6 86.3 71.9 50.4 135.2 142.8 173.3 150.6
50-54 99.6 99.5 105.5 107.1 99.3 81.1 67.9 139.3 136.0 174.7 162.9
55-59 96.5 96.5 100.7 101.9 93.4 84.4 51.4 137.8 147.3 173.8 157.0
60-64 94.1 94.1 94.0 93.3 87.6 104.4 46.8 125.8 99.0 142.9 146.9
65-69 89.6 89.6 86.6 84.6 78.9 119.7 45.4 106.5 86.1 98.8 157.1
70-74 82.7 82.6 88.3 88.0 82.5 111.8 79.4 89.5 92.3 114.7 159.7
75+ 55.0 55.0 80.0 85.2 79.4 128.7 118.2 73.0 85.7 131.7 122.0
? 184.4 184.4
Note The sex ratios express the number of men per 100 women in the age group.
Data Computed by William Wetheral from populations in above tables.