Japan · prefecture
Kyoto population 2026
京都府
Kyoto has 2,520,000 people on the latest official figure, for 1 October 2024 (published to the nearest thousand), 15,000 fewer than a year earlier (−0.59%). It is 13th of Japan’s 47 prefectures by population, home to 2.0% of Japan’s people.
If last year’s change continues: about 2.5 million by 1 July 2026. That is our arithmetic, not an official figure.
Kyoto in numbers
- Population
- 2.5 million 1 October 2024
- Change in a year
- −0.59% −15,000 people
- Share of Japan
- 2.0% 13th of 47 prefectures
- Population density
- 546per km² 4,612 km²
That is about as many people as Botswana (2.6 million).
Population of Kyoto by year
› Show the numbers as a table
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 2,561,000 |
| 2022 | 2,550,000 |
| 2023 | 2,535,000 |
| 2024 | 2,520,000 |
| Year | Population | Change | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2,520,000 | −15,000 | −0.59% |
| 2023 | 2,535,000 | −15,000 | −0.59% |
| 2022 | 2,550,000 | −11,000 | −0.43% |
| 2021 | 2,561,000 | – | – |
Kyoto among Japan’s prefectures
Full ranking →| # | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tokyo | 14,178,000 | +0.65% | 11.5% | 6,462 |
| 2 | Kanagawa | 9,225,000 | −0.04% | 7.5% | 3,818 |
| 3 | Osaka | 8,757,000 | −0.07% | 7.1% | 4,596 |
| 4 | Aichi | 7,460,000 | −0.23% | 6.0% | 1,442 |
| 5 | Saitama | 7,332,000 | +0.01% | 5.9% | 1,931 |
| 6 | Chiba | 6,251,000 | −0.10% | 5.0% | 1,212 |
| 7 | Hyogo | 5,337,000 | −0.61% | 4.3% | 635 |
| 8 | Fukuoka | 5,092,000 | −0.22% | 4.1% | 1,024 |
| 9 | Hokkaido | 5,043,000 | −0.96% | 4.1% | 60 |
| 10 | Shizuoka | 3,527,000 | −0.79% | 2.8% | 453 |
| 11 | Ibaraki | 2,806,000 | −0.67% | 2.3% | 460 |
| 12 | Hiroshima | 2,714,000 | −0.88% | 2.2% | 320 |
| 13 | Kyoto | 2,520,000 | −0.59% | 2.0% | 546 |
| 14 | Miyagi | 2,248,000 | −0.71% | 1.8% | 309 |
| 15 | Niigata | 2,099,000 | −1.27% | 1.7% | 167 |
| 16 | Nagano | 1,987,000 | −0.85% | 1.6% | 146 |
| 17 | Gifu | 1,916,000 | −0.78% | 1.5% | 180 |
| 18 | Gunma | 1,890,000 | −0.63% | 1.5% | 297 |
| 19 | Tochigi | 1,885,000 | −0.63% | 1.5% | 294 |
| 20 | Okayama | 1,831,000 | −0.87% | 1.5% | 257 |
| 21 | Fukushima | 1,743,000 | −1.36% | 1.4% | 126 |
| 22 | Mie | 1,711,000 | −0.93% | 1.4% | 296 |
| 23 | Kumamoto | 1,697,000 | −0.70% | 1.4% | 229 |
| 24 | Kagoshima | 1,532,000 | −1.10% | 1.2% | 168 |
| 25 | Okinawa | 1,466,000 | −0.14% | 1.2% | 643 |
| 26 | Shiga | 1,402,000 | −0.35% | 1.1% | 349 |
| 27 | Nara | 1,285,000 | −0.85% | 1.0% | 348 |
| 28 | Yamaguchi | 1,281,000 | −1.31% | 1.0% | 210 |
| 29 | Ehime | 1,276,000 | −1.16% | 1.0% | 225 |
| 30 | Nagasaki | 1,252,000 | −1.18% | 1.0% | 305 |
| 31 | Aomori | 1,165,000 | −1.60% | 0.9% | 121 |
| 32 | Iwate | 1,145,000 | −1.55% | 0.9% | 75 |
| 33 | Ishikawa | 1,098,000 | −0.99% | 0.9% | 262 |
| 34 | Oita | 1,085,000 | −1.00% | 0.9% | 171 |
| 35 | Miyazaki | 1,033,000 | −0.86% | 0.8% | 134 |
| 36 | Yamagata | 1,011,000 | −1.46% | 0.8% | 108 |
| 37 | Toyama | 997,000 | −0.99% | 0.8% | 235 |
| 38 | Kagawa | 917,000 | −0.97% | 0.7% | 493 |
| 39 | Akita | 897,000 | −1.86% | 0.7% | 77 |
| 40 | Wakayama | 880,000 | −1.34% | 0.7% | 186 |
| 41 | Yamanashi | 791,000 | −0.63% | 0.6% | 177 |
| 42 | Saga | 788,000 | −0.88% | 0.6% | 323 |
| 43 | Fukui | 739,000 | −0.67% | 0.6% | 176 |
| 44 | Tokushima | 685,000 | −1.44% | 0.6% | 165 |
| 45 | Kochi | 656,000 | −1.50% | 0.5% | 92 |
| 46 | Shimane | 642,000 | −1.23% | 0.5% | 96 |
| 47 | Tottori | 531,000 | −1.12% | 0.4% | 151 |
Largest cities in Kyoto
City proper, not the wider metro area; latest figure in GeoNames (CC BY 4.0), so years differ.
- Kyoto1,463,723
- Uji192,925
- Kameoka97,181
- Maizuru92,465
- Kamigyō-ku83,000
- Kōtari80,608
Air quality in Kyoto today
Hourly AQI and a 48-hour forecast.
Questions
What is the population of Kyoto in 2026?
Is Kyoto’s population growing or shrinking?
How does Kyoto rank in Japan?
What is the population density of Kyoto?
What is the largest city in Kyoto?
Source and method
Statistics Bureau of Japan, Population Estimates. Reuse with credit under the e-Gov terms. Total area, Wikidata. Prefecture estimates are published in thousands each spring; results of the 2025 census will supersede them. Ranks, shares and changes are our arithmetic on the published figures. National figures can differ from the UN’s projection for Japan, which uses a different method. The 2026 figure above carries last year’s change forward; it does not come from the source.
Cite this page: Kyoto population, Statistics Bureau of Japan, 1 October 2024. GlobeMetrics, https://globemetrics.org/world-population/japan/kyoto/
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