Population: 127,417,244 (July 2005 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 14.3% (male 9,328,584/female 8,866,772); 15-64 years: 66.2% (male 42,462,533/female 41,942,835); 65 years and over: 19.5% (male 10,435,284/female 14,381,236) (2005 est.)

Median age: total: 42.64 years; male: 40.87 years; female: 44.44 years (2005 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.05% (2005 est.)

Birth rate: 9.47 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Death rate: 8.95 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female; under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female; 15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female; 65 years and over: 0.73 male(s)/female; total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2005 est.)

Infant mortality rate: total: 3.26 deaths/1,000 live births; male: 3.52 deaths/1,000 live births; female: 2.99 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 81.15 years; male: 77.86 years; female: 84.61 years (2005 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.39 children born/woman (2005 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1% (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 12,000 (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths: 500 (2003 est.)

Nationality: noun: Japanese (singular and plural); adjective: Japanese

Ethnic groups: Japanese 99%, others 1% (Korean 511,262, Chinese 244,241, Brazilian 182,232, Filipino 89,851, other 237,914); note: up to 230,000 Brazilians of Japanese origin migrated to Japan in the 1990s to work in industries; some have returned to Brazil (2004)

Religions: observe both Shinto and Buddhist 84%, other 16% (including Christian 0.7%)

Languages: Japanese

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write; total population: 99%; male: 99%; female: 99% (2002)

Government

Country name: conventional long form: none; conventional short form: Japan

Government type: constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government

Capital: Tokyo

Administrative divisions: 47 prefectures; Aichi, Akita, Aomori, Chiba, Ehime, Fukui, Fukuoka, Fukushima, Gifu, Gumma, Hiroshima, Hokkaido, Hyogo, Ibaraki, Ishikawa, Iwate, Kagawa, Kagoshima, Kanagawa, Kochi, Kumamoto, Kyoto, Mie, Miyagi, Miyazaki, Nagano, Nagasaki, Nara, Niigata, Oita, Okayama, Okinawa, Osaka, Saga, Saitama, Shiga, Shimane, Shizuoka, Tochigi, Tokushima, Tokyo, Tottori, Toyama, Wakayama, Yamagata, Yamaguchi, Yamanashi

Independence660 BC (traditional founding by Emperor JIMMU):

National holiday: Birthday of Emperor AKIHITO, 23 December (1933)

Constitution: 3 May 1947

Legal system: modeled after European civil law system with English-American influence; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations

Suffrage: 20 years of age; universal

Executive branch: chief of state: Emperor AKIHITO (since 7 January 1989)

head of government: Prime Minister Junichiro KOIZUMI (since 26 April 2001); cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the prime minister; elections: Diet designates prime minister; constitution requires that prime minister commands parliamentary majority; following legislative elections, leader of majority party or leader of majority coalition in House of Representatives usually becomes prime minister; KOIZUMI's term as leader of the LDP is scheduled to end in September 2006; a new prime minister may be chosen at that time; monarch is hereditary

Legislative branch: bicameral Diet or Kokkai consists of the House of Councillors or Sangi-in (242 seats - members elected for six-year terms; half reelected every three years; 144 members in multi-seat constituencies and 98 by proportional representation) and the House of Representatives or Shugi-in (480 seats - members elected for four-year terms; 300 in single-seat constituencies; 180 members by proportional representation in 11 regional blocs)

elections: House of Councillors - last held 11 July 2004 (next to be held in July 2007); House of Representatives - last held 9 November 2003 (next election by November 2007)

election results: House of Councillors - percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - LDP 115, DPJ 82, Komeito 24, JCP 9, SDP 5, others 7; distribution of seats as of October 2004 - LDP 114, DPJ 84, Komeito 24, JCP 9, SDP 5, others 6

: House of Representatives - percent of vote by party - LDP 49.38%, DPJ 36.88%, Komeito 7.09%, JCP 1.88%, SDP 1.25%, NCP 0.84%; seats by party - LDP 237, DPJ 177, Komeito 34, JCP 9, SDP 6, NCP 4, others 13; note: distribution of seats as of December 2004: LDP 249, DPJ 177, Komeito 34, JCP 9, SDP 6, others 3, vacant 2 (2004)

Judicial branch: Supreme Court (chief justice is appointed by the monarch after designation by the cabinet; all other justices are appointed by the cabinet)

Economy

Economy - overview: Government-industry cooperation, a strong work ethic, mastery of high technology, and a comparatively small defense allocation (1% of GDP) helped Japan advance with extraordinary rapidity to the rank of second most technologically-powerful economy in the world after the US and third-largest economy after the US and China, measured on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis. (Using market exhange rates rather than PPP rates, Japan's economy is larger than China's.) One notable characteristic of the economy is the working together of manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors in closely-knit groups called keiretsu. A second basic feature has been the guarantee of lifetime employment for a substantial portion of the urban labor force. Both features are now eroding. Industry, the most important sector of the economy, is heavily dependent on imported raw materials and fuels. The tiny agricultural sector is highly subsidized and protected, with crop yields among the highest in the world. Usually self sufficient in rice, Japan must import about 50% of its requirements of other grain and fodder crops. Japan maintains one of the world's largest fishing fleets and accounts for nearly 15% of the global catch. For three decades overall real economic growth had been spectacular: a 10% average in the 1960s, a 5% average in the 1970s, and a 4% average in the 1980s. Growth slowed markedly in the 1990s, averaging just 1.7%, largely because of the after effects of overinvestment during the late 1980s and contractionary domestic policies intended to wring speculative excesses from the stock and real estate markets. From 2000 to 2003, government efforts to revive economic growth met with little success and were further hampered by the slowing of the US, European, and Asian economies. In 2004, growth improved and the lingering fears of deflation in prices and economic activity lessened. Japan's huge government debt, which totals more than 160% of GDP, and the aging of the population are two major long-run problems. A rise in taxes could be viewed as endangering the revival of growth. Robotics constitutes a key long-term economic strength with Japan possessing 410,000 of the world's 720,000 "working robots." Internal conflict over the proper way to reform the ailing banking system continues.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $3.745 trillion (2004 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 2.9% (2004 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $29,400 (2004 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 1.3%; industry: 24.7%; services: 74.1% (2004 est.)

Labor force: 66.97 million (2004 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 5%, industry 25%, services 70% (2002 est.)

Unemployment rate: 4.7% (2004 est.)

Population below poverty line: NA

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 4.8%; highest 10%: 21.7% (1993)

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 24.9 (1993)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): -0.1% (2004 est.)

Investment (gross fixed): 24% of GDP (2004 est.)

Budget: revenues: $1.401 trillion; expenditures: $1.748 trillion, including capital expenditures (public works only) of about $71 billion (2004 est.)

Public debt: 164.3% of GDP (2004 est.)

Agriculture - products: rice, sugar beets, vegetables, fruit, pork, poultry, dairy products, eggs, fish

Industries: among world's largest and technologically advanced producers of motor vehicles, electronic equipment, machine tools, steel and nonferrous metals, ships, chemicals, textiles, processed foods

Industrial production growth rate: 6.6% (2004 est.)

Electricity - production: 1.044 trillion kWh (2002)

Electricity - consumption: 971 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2002)

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2002)

Oil - production: 17,330 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption: 5.29 million bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports: 93,360 bbl/day (2001)

Oil - imports: 5.449 million bbl/day (2001)

Oil - proved reserves: 29.29 million bbl (1 January 2002)

Natural gas - production: 2.519 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - consumption: 80.42 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - exports: 0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - imports: 77.73 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves: 20.02 billion cu m (1 January 2002)

Current account balance: $170.2 billion (2004 est.)

Exports: $538.8 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Exports - commodities: transport equipment, motor vehicles, semiconductors, electrical machinery, chemicals

Exports - partners: US 22.7%, China 13.1%, South Korea 7.8%, Taiwan 7.4%, Hong Kong 6.3% (2004)

Imports: $401.8 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, fuels, foodstuffs, chemicals, textiles, raw materials (2001)

Imports - partners: China 20.7%, US 14%, South Korea 4.9%, Australia 4.3%, Indonesia 4.1%, Saudi Arabia 4.1%, UAE 4% (2004)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $664.6 billion (2003)

Debt - external: NA (2002 est.)

Economic aid - donor: ODA, $7.9 billion (FY03/04)

Currency (code): yen (JPY)

Exchange rates: yen per US dollar - 108.19 (2004), 115.93 (2003), 125.39 (2002), 121.53 (2001), 107.77 (2000)