For the first time in three years Japan�s population has fallen to 127,057,860 as of March. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications say that a majority of it lies within the increase of deaths among the aging population.� Population was down 18,323, where a number of deaths exceeded births. This is a record net drop (natural decline) of 73,024.

The ministry started calculating deaths since March 1980, and since then there is a high total of 1,146,105 deaths. Japan also came to its second lowest figure for birth since March 2006, 1,073,081.

A ministry official stated that Japan, �may have become a society facing full-scale population declines as the number of deaths is on a rising trend amid the aging population.��

The population decline in the latest survey was partly offset by an increase in the number of people returning to Japan from overseas.� More people returned to Japan than left, resulting in a net increase of 54,701, according to the ministry.