Japanese city accused of inflating census as country's population shrinks

Japanese authorities are investigating officials of a city in the central region over claims they inflated population numbers in the most recent census.

Police raided the city hall of Toyama on Saturday after the central government filed a criminal complaint accusing officials of falsely adding more than 2,000 people.

The census is used to calculate funding from the central government. According to a city estimate, Toyama may have received 60 million yen ($378,000; £285,000) more than it should have.

Japan is grappling with declining population that is also rapidly aging.

Last year, Japan's total population decreased in all 47 prefectures but Tokyo, and the rate of decline is accelerating. About three in 10 residents are aged 65 or older.

According to Japan's internal affairs ministry, Toyama's actual population last year was 399,197, down from the allegedly inflated figure of 402,133 released in May.

Preliminary investigations suggest that officials involved had falsely added more than 2,000 residents by altering the sizes of households census takers had initially marked as empty.

Toyama's Mayor Hirohisa Fujii said the citys government would cooperate with the investigation, but denied that there was any instruction from senior officials to inflate census numbers.

"I will take due responsibility at the appropriate time," he said at a press conference last Friday, the Japan Times reported.

Under Japanese law, people found guilty of falsifying statistics can be fined or jailed for up to six months.

Officials at Japan's Statistics Bureau expressed outrage when news of the suspected violation first broke last month.

"It is extremely regrettable that such inappropriate handling occurred in the country's most basic and important statistical survey," Akihiro Tamura, director of the bureau's census division, had said.

Japan conducts its national census every five years.

The latest numbers show the country's population, including foreign residents, at nearly 123 million as of 1 October 2025, down 2.5%, or around 3.17 million, from 2020.