Does Japan have the highest declining population rate? No, that's not true: According to the Statistic Bureau of Japan, the total population of Japan as of June 1, 2023, is 124.52 million people. This reflects a decrease of 580,000 individuals or -0.47% compared to the same month last year. According to the World Bank's data on population growth in 2022, Japan has a -0.4% growth rate, placing it 22nd in terms of negative population growth. The country with the highest declining population is Ukraine, which experiences a decline of -14.2%.
The claim appeared on a TikTok video (archived here) where it was published on July 1, 2023, under the title "Annual change in population". Translated from Japanese into English by Lead Stories staff, the pop-up (in red) says:
Japan's population is declining more than war-torn Ukraine.
(Image Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Friday, July 7th 20 10:52:56 2023 UTC)
The Exact same list appears on Twitter and it has been retweeted by hundreds of people.
(Image Source: Twitter screenshot taken on Friday, July 7th, 2023 11:59:46 2023 UTC)
The list mentioned in the video, supposedly sourced from the World of Statistics, cannot be found on their website. For reliable population statistics, the Portal Site of Official Statistics of Japan (e-Stat) provides accurate data. Additionally, according to the World Bank's Population Growth (annual %) data for 2022, the top 10 countries with the highest declining population growth are as follows:
Ukraine -14.2
Bulgaria -6.2
Lebanon -1.9
American Samoa -1.7
Curacao -1.6
Kosovo -1.4
Albania -1.3
Puerto Rico -1.3
Bosnia and Herzegovina -1.2
Marshall Islands -1.2
Furthermore, conspiracy theorists unquestioningly attributed the population decline to the COVID-19 vaccine.
