Due to low marriage rates and declining birthrates
By 2050, more than half of the homes in Tokyo will be occupied by a single person. This is what the National Institute for Research on Population and Social Security (IPSS) predicts, through an in-depth investigation for each of the 47 prefectures of the country. The percentage of single-person households will increase across the archipelago and will be above 40% in 26 prefectures, while it will reach 54.1% in the metropolitan city of Tokyo.
The main reasons for demographic changes, explains the institute, are the movement of young people to large cities and the aging of the population, as well as low marriage and birth rates. The total number of households in Japan is also projected to be 52.61 million in 2050, down 5.6% from 55.71 million in 2020. The percentage of all households represented by single-person homes it will average 44.3% nationwide, with peaks of 45% in the prefectures of Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka, Hokkaido, Kanagawa and Kagoshima. IPSS estimates are released every five years based on national censuses.
