Demographics of the Empire of Japan

thumb|Population density map of the [[naichi of the Empire of Japan (1920)]]

thumb|Population density map of the naichi of the Empire of Japan (1940)

thumb|upright|1920 Commemorative stamp for 1st national census of the Empire of Japan

right|upright|thumb|Japanese policemen circa 1875

thumb|upright|[[Jiichiro Matsumoto, a Japanese politician, leader of the Burakumin liberation movement]]

thumb|upright|Native [[Micronesia#Demographics|Micronesian constables of Truk Island, circa 1930]]

thumb|upright|Photograph of [[Atayal people|Atayal men in 1900]]

The population of Japan at the time of the Meiji Restoration was estimated to be 34,985,000 on January 1, 1873, while the official and de facto (or ) populations on the same day were 33,300,644 and 33,416,939, respectively. These were comparable to the population of the United Kingdom (31,000,000), France (38,000,000), and Austria-Hungary (38,000,000).

Japan proper

Total population

Meiji government established the uniformed registered system of in 1872, which is called .

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:right;font-size:small"

!Year

!honseki

population

!A-type de facto

population

!B-type de facto

population

!Estimated population

||Mar 8, 1872||33,110,796||33,238,011||||34,806,000

||Jan 1, 1873||33,300,644||33,416,939||||34,985,000

||Jan 1, 1874||33,625,646||33,749,932||||35,154,000

||Jan 1, 1875||33,997,415||33,997,250||||35,316,000

||Jan 1, 1876||34,338,367||34,302,068||||35,555,000

||Jan 1, 1877||34,628,328||||||35,870,000

||Jan 1, 1878||34,898,540||||||36,166,000

||Jan 1, 1879||35,768,547||||||36,464,000

||Jan 1, 1880||35,929,023||||||36,649,000

||Jan 1, 1881||36,358,955||||||36,965,000

||Jan 1, 1882||36,700,079||||||37,259,000

||Jan 1, 1883||37,017,262||||||37,569,000

||Jan 1, 1884||37,451,727||37,687,645||37,451,800||37,962,000

||Jan 1, 1885||37,868,949||37,975,069||37,704,100||38,313,000

||Jan 1, 1886||38,151,217||38,276,376||38,147,600||38,541,000

||Dec 31, 1886||38,507,177||38,833,415||38,530,400||38,703,000 (as of Jan 1, 1887)

||Dec 31, 1887||39,069,691||39,510,146||39,137,100||39,029,000 (as of Jan 1, 1888)

||Dec 31, 1888||39,607,234||40,105,479||39,626,600||39,473,000 (as of Jan 1, 1889)

||Dec 31, 1889||40,072,020||40,692,808||40,076,500||39,902,000 (as of Jan 1, 1890)

||Dec 31, 1890||40,453,461||40,968,835||40,460,300||40,251,000 (as of Jan 1, 1891)

||Dec 31, 1891||40,718,677||41,268,732||40,718,800||40,508,000 (as of Jan 1, 1892)

||Dec 31, 1892||41,089,940||41,696,847||41,083,400||40,860,000 (as of Jan 1, 1893)

||Dec 31, 1893||41,388,313||42,060,976||41,378,600||41,142,000 (as of Jan 1, 1894)

||Dec 31, 1894||41,813,215||42,430,985||41,694,700||41,557,000 (as of Jan 1, 1895)

||Dec 31, 1895||42,270,620||43,048,226||42,225,300||41,992,000 (as of Jan 1, 1896)

||Dec 31, 1896||42,708,264||43,499,833||42,665,300||42,400,000 (as of Jan 1, 1897)

||Dec 31, 1897||43,228,863||43,978,495||43,180,400||42,886,000 (as of Jan 1, 1898)

||Dec 31, 1898||43,763,855||45,403,041||43,716,400||43,404,000 (as of Jan 1, 1899)

||Dec 31, 1899||44,270,495||||44,269,900||43,847,000 (as of Jan 1, 1900)

||Dec 31, 1900||44,825,597||||44,831,300||44,359,000 (as of Jan 1, 1901)

||Dec 31, 1901||45,446,369||||45,404,700||44,964,000 (as of Jan 1, 1902)

||Dec 31, 1902||46,041,768||||45,990,000||45,546,000 (as of Jan 1, 1903)

||Dec 31, 1903||46,732,876||48,542,736||46,588,000||46,135,000 (as of Jan 1, 1904)

||Dec 31, 1904||47,219,566||||47,197,600||46,620,000 (as of Jan 1, 1905)

||Dec 31, 1905||47,678,396||||47,819,300||47,038,000 (as of Jan 1, 1906)

||Dec 31, 1906||48,164,761||||48,451,100||47,416,000 (as of Jan 1, 1907)

||Dec 31, 1907||48,819,630||||49,092,000||47,965,000 (as of Jan 1, 1908)

||Dec 31, 1908||49,588,804||51,742,486||49,318,300||48,554,000 (as of Jan 1, 1909)

||Dec 31, 1909||50,254,471||||50,011,700||49,184,000 (as of Jan 1, 1910)

||Dec 31, 1910||50,984,844||||50,716,600||49,852,000 (as of Jan 1, 1911)

||Dec 31, 1911||51,753,934||||51,435,400||50,577,000 (as of Jan 1, 1912)

||Dec 31, 1912||52,522,753||||52,167,000||51,305,000 (as of Jan 1, 1913)

||Dec 31, 1913||53,362,682||55,131,270||52,911,800||52,039,000 (as of Jan 1, 1914)

||Dec 31, 1914||54,142,441||||53,668,600||52,752,000 (as of Jan 1, 1915)

||Dec 31, 1915||54,935,755||||54,439,400||53,496,000 (as of Jan 1, 1916)

||Dec 31, 1916||55,637,431||||55,224,500||54,134,000 (as of Jan 1, 1917)

||Dec 31, 1917||56,335,971||||56,022,700||54,739,000 (as of Jan 1, 1918)

||Dec 31, 1918||56,667,711||58,087,277||55,662,900||55,033,000 (as of Jan 1, 1919)

||Dec 31, 1919||57,233,906||||56,253,200||55,473,000 (as of Jan 1, 1920)

The first national census based on a full sampling of inhabitants was conducted in Japan in 1920 and was conducted every five years thereafter. Per the Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the population distribution of Japan proper from 1920 to 1945 is as follows

{| class=wikitable

! Date || Population || % Change || Area (km2) || Density (km2) ||% Urban

|1920-10-01|| 55,963,053 || NA || 381,808.04 || 147 || 18.0

|1925-10-01|| 59,736,822|| 6.7 || 381,810.06 || 156 || 21.6

|1930-10-01|| 64,450,005 || 7.9 || 382,264.91|| 169 || 24.0

|1935-10-01|| 69,254,148|| 7.5 || 382,545.42 || 181|| 32.7

|1940-10-01|| 73,114,308|| 5.6 || 382,545.42 || 191 || 37.7

|1945-11-01|| 71,998,104|| -0.7 || 377,298.15|| 195 || 22.8

The above figures include Hokkaidō, the northernmost island; the central island of Honshū, site of the most important cities and industrial centers; and the smaller islands of Kyūshū, Shikoku, and Okinawa (except for the 1945 census values).

Total fertility rate from 1874 to 1950

The total fertility rate is the number of children born per woman. It is based on fairly good data for the entire period. Sources: Our World In Data and Gapminder Foundation.

{| class="wikitable " style="text-align:right"

! Years !! 1874!!1875!!1876!!1877!!1878!!1879!!1880||align=left|||3,123||4,031||5,036||4,896||5,647||5,564||7,239||10,060||21,391||54,634||104,346||154,748||300,777||380,919||180,042

|align=left|Hiroshima||align=left|||74,305||81,914||88,820||91,479||122,306||121,196||142,763||167,130||160,510||195,731||270,365||310,118||343,968||336,483||137,197

|align=left|Fukuoka||align=left|||41,635||42,617||53,014||58,181||66,190||71,047||82,106||97,303||95,381||146,005||228,290||291,158||306,763||324,499||252,282

|align=left|Yokosuka||align=left|||2,810||13,251||24,366||24,366||24,750||36,956||70,964||85,478||89,879||96,351||110,304||182,871||193,358||298,132||202,038

|align=left|Miyahara/ Washō/ Kure||align=left|/ / ||n. d.||11,160||7,335||11,648||21,553||66,006||100,679||128,342||130,362||138,863||190,265||231,333||238,195||293,632||152,184

|align=left|Nagasaki||align=left|||29,656||38,229||55,063||65,374||107,422||153,293||176,480||161,174||176,534||189,071||204,179||211,702||252,630||270,113||142,748

|align=left|Amagasaki||align=left|||12,404||12,742||13,580||13,955||15,066||18,006||19,888||25,045||38,461||44,241||50,064||71,072||181,011||270,073||153,051

|align=left|Sendai||align=left|||51,998||61,709||90,231||73,771||83,325||100,231||97,944||104,141||118,984||142,894||190,177||219,547||223,630||261,117||238,250

|align=left|Yahata