Japan · prefecture
Saitama population 2026
埼玉県
Saitama has 7,332,000 people on the latest official figure, for 1 October 2024 (published to the nearest thousand), 1,000 more than a year earlier (+0.01%). It is 5th of Japan’s 47 prefectures by population, home to 5.9% of Japan’s people.
If last year’s change continues: about 7.3 million by 1 July 2026. That is our arithmetic, not an official figure.
Saitama in numbers
- Population
- 7.3 million 1 October 2024
- Change in a year
- +0.01% +1,000 people
- Share of Japan
- 5.9% 5th of 47 prefectures
- Population density
- 1,931per km² 3,798 km²
That is about as many people as Hong Kong (7.4 million).
Population of Saitama by year
› Show the numbers as a table
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 7,340,000 |
| 2022 | 7,337,000 |
| 2023 | 7,331,000 |
| 2024 | 7,332,000 |
| Year | Population | Change | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 7,332,000 | +1,000 | +0.01% |
| 2023 | 7,331,000 | −6,000 | −0.08% |
| 2022 | 7,337,000 | −3,000 | −0.04% |
| 2021 | 7,340,000 | – | – |
Saitama 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 Saitama
City proper, not the wider metro area; latest figure in GeoNames (CC BY 4.0), so years differ.
- Saitama1,324,854
- Kawaguchi607,373
- Kawagoe354,571
- Koshigaya345,353
- Tokorozawa344,194
- Sōka249,645
Air quality in Saitama today
Hourly AQI and a 48-hour forecast.
Questions
What is the population of Saitama in 2026?
Is Saitama’s population growing or shrinking?
How does Saitama rank in Japan?
What is the population density of Saitama?
What is the largest city in Saitama?
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: Saitama population, Statistics Bureau of Japan, 1 October 2024. GlobeMetrics, https://globemetrics.org/world-population/japan/saitama/
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