Japan · prefecture
Yamaguchi population 2026
山口県
Yamaguchi has 1,281,000 people on the latest official figure, for 1 October 2024 (published to the nearest thousand), 17,000 fewer than a year earlier (−1.31%). It is 28th of Japan’s 47 prefectures by population, home to 1.0% of Japan’s people.
If last year’s change continues: about 1.3 million by 1 July 2026. That is our arithmetic, not an official figure.
Yamaguchi in numbers
- Population
- 1.3 million 1 October 2024
- Change in a year
- −1.31% −17,000 people
- Share of Japan
- 1.0% 28th of 47 prefectures
- Population density
- 210per km² 6,111 km²
That is about as many people as Eswatini (1.3 million).
Population of Yamaguchi by year
› Show the numbers as a table
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,328,000 |
| 2022 | 1,313,000 |
| 2023 | 1,298,000 |
| 2024 | 1,281,000 |
| Year | Population | Change | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1,281,000 | −17,000 | −1.31% |
| 2023 | 1,298,000 | −15,000 | −1.14% |
| 2022 | 1,313,000 | −15,000 | −1.13% |
| 2021 | 1,328,000 | – | – |
Yamaguchi 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 Yamaguchi
City proper, not the wider metro area; latest figure in GeoNames (CC BY 4.0), so years differ.
- Shimonoseki265,684
- Yamaguchi193,966
- Ube173,733
- Shūnan149,632
- Iwakuni129,125
- Hōfu116,925
Questions
What is the population of Yamaguchi in 2026?
Is Yamaguchi’s population growing or shrinking?
How does Yamaguchi rank in Japan?
What is the population density of Yamaguchi?
What is the largest city in Yamaguchi?
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: Yamaguchi population, Statistics Bureau of Japan, 1 October 2024. GlobeMetrics, https://globemetrics.org/world-population/japan/yamaguchi/
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