Japan Statistical Yearbook

The year 2018 marks 150 years from the time when Japan set out on the path to modernization in 1868, the first year of the Meiji period. Japan’s modern statistics were initiated by our illustrious forerunners at the outset of the Meiji period.

The Japan Statistical Yearbook is a complete and systematic record of basic statistical data covering a wide range of fields that include Japan’s national territory, population, economics, society, and culture. The yearbook was first published in 1949 as the First Japan Statistical Yearbook, but followed on from the Japan Imperial Statistical Yearbook, published in 1883 and each year thereafter. Thus, the Japan Statistical Yearbook can be used as a sequel to the Historical Statistics of Japan, which covers statistical data from both the prewar and postwar years.

The Yearbook selects basic data from statistical surveys, official statistics and derived statistics implemented or prepared by Japan’s public and private survey organizations, editing these into around 500 statistical tables in 30 fields. Each chapter of the Yearbook also begins with a commentary that contains an overview of the statistical surveys and explanations of terms used.

The JapanKnowledge edition, in addition to enabling searches in the titles of each statistical table, also makes it possible to perform full searches of the commentary at the beginning of each chapter, as well as letter strings (except numbers), headnotes and footnotes in the statistical tables. It is also possible to download all statistical tables as Excel files. Furthermore, since all content is in both English and Japanese, searches are possible using both English and Japanese keywords.

Updated each year, the Japan Statistical Yearbook is indispensable for all your statistical data needs.

Editors: Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

*The two most recent editions are available in the JapanKnowledge School.

*Viewing data files in the Excel format requires “Microsoft Excel.” Viewing the files in software other than Microsoft Excel may cause abnormal display of the contents. Please see this Microsoft Support page if you are unable to install Microsoft Excel.