Population

Population
126,974,628 (July 2002 est.)

0-14 years: 14.5% (male 9,465,282; female 8,999,888)
15-64 years: 67.5% (male 43,027,320; female 42,586,112)
65 years and over: 18% (male 9,664,112; female 13,231,914)(2002 est.)

Average life expectancy: 80.8 years^1.2

Language
Japanese. English is widely used and is taught as a second language.^1.1

Major Cities
Most of Japan's nearly 130 million people are squeezed into about 30 percent of its habitable land along the coast-a space roughly the size of Arkansas. Almost all of it is urban. Much of Japan's eastern coast is a megalopolis, an unbroken string of gigantic cities that stretch south from the largest, Tokyo, with more than eight million residents. At 337 persons per square kilometer, Japan's population density ranks fourth among nations with a population of 10 million or more. (Bangladesh ranks first, with 836 persons per square kilometer.) Sharing the space are 73 million motor vehicles, according to Japan's Ministry of Transport. Despite overcrowding, Japan's cities are remarkably clean, modern, and cosmopolitan. Tokyo's nightlife, cultural scene, and shopping venues are famous the world over. Cinemas, theaters, bars, coffee shops, discotheques, nightclubs, jazz clubs, music concerts from classical to rock and traditional Kabuki and Noh theaters abound.^1.1