The population of Japanese nationals fell for a 14th year, by about 800,000 people, to 122.42 million in 2022, according to data showing the number of people with resident registrations as of Jan. 1, 2023 that was released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

The population of Japanese citizens decreased at the fastest pace ever while the number of foreign residents rose to a record at nearly 3 million people, government data showed on Wednesday.

The data underscores that foreign nationals are playing an even bigger role in Japanese society to make up for a shrinking population.

The population of Japanese nationals fell for a 14th year, by about 800,000 people, to 122.42 million in 2022, according to data showing the number of people with resident registrations as of Jan. 1, 2023 that was released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

For the first time, the number of Japanese residents fell in all 47 prefectures, the data showed.