machi (town), or mura (village) under the Civil Registration Law and the Regulations regarding Declaration of Foetal Deaths. Statistics presented in this book are based on Japanese who occurred in Japan. The population used for computation is based on the Japanese population, except before 1966 based on total population. Those population are obtained from the Population Census (mentioned above) or the Population Estimates (mentioned later).
LIFE TABLES (Statistics and Information Department, Ministry of Health and Welfare)
Life table expresses the order of deaths in a group of population during a given period by means of death rate, expectation of life, etc. The table is calculated on the basis of both the number of deaths observed during the period (the basic period for preparing the life table) and the average population during the period or the mid-period population (called the basic population for the life table).
Two kinds of life tables i.e., Complete Life Tables and the Abridged Life Tables, are prepared by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The former are based on the precise results of the Population Censuses, while the latter, on the annual Population Estimates and are calculated in a simplified way. The Complete Life Tables have been published from the first issue for 1891-1898 through the eighteenth one for 1995.
POPULATION ESTIMATES (Statistics Bureau, Management and Coordination Agency)
Besides the quinquennial Population Censuses which enumerate Japanese population in detail, the Population Estimates by the Statistics Bureau, Management and Coordination Agency are available for interim years. With respect to the population of the whole country, the estimates of the total population as of the first day of each month and the estimates of the population classified by age group as of October 1 of each year are obtained based on the population enumerated in the Population Census, by adding to or subtracting from it the live births, deaths and entries into and departures from Japan, that occurred thereafter. And for the population by prefectures, the estimates as of October 1 of each year are obtained by further adding or subtracting the migrants between prefectures. When a discrepancy occurs between the figures thus estimated and the figures enumerated in the next Population Census, the estimated series are adjusted retroactively to link to the census figures. Data on births and deaths are provided by "Vital Statistics," those on entries into and departures from Japan, by "Statistical Survey on Legal Migrants," and those on migrants between prefectures. by "Internal Migration in Japan Derived from the Basic Resident Registers."
FUTURE POPULATION PROJECTIONS (National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, Ministry of Health and Welfare)
Data are estimated whenever occasion arises, by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, Ministry of Health and Welfare. The latest projections were made
