Which Nationality Has The Largest Number Of Foreigners Living In Japan?

 

1 The answer is…

NoteThe answer

The answer is Chinese nationals. As of the end of 2025, the total number of foreign residents in Japan stands at 4,125,395. By nationality, Chinese nationals make up the largest group at 930,428, accounting for approximately 23% of the total. This is followed by Vietnamese nationals at 681,100 (17%) and South Korean nationals at 407,341 (10%).

Furthermore, regarding the year-on-year (YoY) growth rate as of the end of 2025, Myanmar nationals saw the highest increase at +35.7%. This was followed by Indonesia (+33.2%), Nepal (+29.2%), Bangladesh (+28.1%), Sri Lanka (+24.7%), and Pakistan (+17.8%). All of these high growth rates were observed among South and Southeast Asian nations.

1.1 Number of Foreign Residents by Nationality as of the End of Each Year

1.1.1 Number

1.1.1.1 Time series table
No 系列 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012
1 Total 4,125,395 3,768,977 3,410,992 3,075,213 2,760,635 2,887,116 2,933,137 2,731,093 2,561,848 2,382,822 2,232,189 2,121,831 2,066,445 2,033,656
2 China 930,428 873,286 821,838 761,563 716,606 778,112 813,675 764,720 730,890 695,522 665,847 654,777 649,078 652,595
3 Vietnam 681,100 634,361 565,026 489,312 432,934 448,053 411,968 330,835 262,405 199,990 146,956 99,865 72,256 52,367
4 South Korea 407,341 409,238 410,156 411,312 409,855 426,908 446,364 449,634 450,663 453,096 457,772 465,477 481,249 489,431
5 Philippines 356,579 341,518 322,046 298,740 276,615 279,660 282,798 271,289 260,553 243,662 229,595 217,585 209,183 202,985
6 Nepal 300,992 233,043 176,336 139,393 97,109 95,982 96,824 88,951 80,038 67,470 54,775 42,346 31,537 24,071
7 Indonesia 266,069 199,824 149,101 98,865 59,820 66,832 66,860 56,346 49,982 42,850 35,910 30,210 27,214 25,532
8 Others 218,224 205,745 192,613 180,167 150,265 156,032 166,988 158,962 150,676 142,617 134,661 125,788 119,596 115,224
9 Brazil 210,014 211,907 211,840 209,430 204,879 208,538 211,677 201,865 191,362 180,923 173,437 175,410 181,317 190,609
10 Myanmar 182,567 134,574 86,546 56,239 37,246 35,049 32,049 26,456 22,519 17,775 13,737 10,252 8,600 8,046
11 Sri Lanka 79,128 63,472 46,949 37,251 28,986 29,290 27,367 25,410 23,348 17,346 13,152 10,741 9,193 8,428
12 Taiwan 73,256 70,147 64,663 57,294 51,191 55,872 64,773 60,684 56,724 52,768 48,723 40,197 33,324 22,775
13 United States 69,787 66,111 63,408 60,804 54,162 55,761 59,172 57,500 55,713 53,705 52,271 51,256 49,981 48,361
14 Thailand 67,097 65,398 61,771 56,701 50,324 53,379 54,809 52,323 50,179 47,647 45,379 43,081 41,208 40,133
15 India 58,999 53,974 48,835 43,886 36,058 38,558 40,202 35,419 31,689 28,667 26,244 24,524 22,526 21,654
16 Peru 49,020 49,247 49,114 48,914 48,291 48,256 48,669 48,362 47,972 47,740 47,721 47,978 48,598 49,255
17 Bangladesh 44,938 35,073 27,962 22,723 17,538 17,463 16,632 15,476 14,144 12,374 10,835 9,641 8,824 8,622
18 Pakistan 34,911 29,647 25,334 22,118 19,120 19,103 17,766 16,198 15,069 13,752 12,708 11,802 11,124 10,599
19 Cambodia 28,957 26,827 23,750 19,604 14,736 16,659 15,020 12,174 10,719 8,367 6,111 4,090 3,085 2,862
20 United Kingdom 22,428 21,139 19,909 18,959 16,163 16,891 18,631 17,943 17,200 16,454 15,826 15,262 14,881 14,653
21 North Korea 22,201 23,206 24,305 25,358 26,312 27,214 28,096 29,559 30,859 32,461 33,939 35,753 38,491 40,617
22 Mongolia 21,359 21,240 19,490 16,580 12,425 13,504 12,797 10,987 9,144 7,636 6,590 5,796 5,180 4,837
Table 1
1.1.1.2 Time series chart
Figure 1
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Figure 22

1.1.2 Year-on-year

1.1.2.1 Time series table
No 系列 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013
1 Myanmar 35.7 55.5 53.9 51 6.3 9.4 21.1 17.5 26.7 29.4 34 19.2 6.9
2 Indonesia 33.2 34 50.8 65.3 -10.5 0 18.7 12.7 16.6 19.3 18.9 11 6.6
3 Nepal 29.2 32.2 26.5 43.5 1.2 -0.9 8.9 11.1 18.6 23.2 29.4 34.3 31
4 Bangladesh 28.1 25.4 23.1 29.6 0.4 5 7.5 9.4 14.3 14.2 12.4 9.3 2.3
5 Sri Lanka 24.7 35.2 26 28.5 -1 7 7.7 8.8 34.6 31.9 22.4 16.8 9.1
6 Pakistan 17.8 17 14.5 15.7 0.1 7.5 9.7 7.5 9.6 8.2 7.7 6.1 5
7 Total 9.5 10.5 10.9 11.4 -4.4 -1.6 7.4 6.6 7.5 6.7 5.2 2.7 1.6
8 India 9.3 10.5 11.3 21.7 -6.5 -4.1 13.5 11.8 10.5 9.2 7 8.9 4
9 Cambodia 7.9 13 21.1 33 -11.5 10.9 23.4 13.6 28.1 36.9 49.4 32.6 7.8
10 Vietnam 7.4 12.3 15.5 13 -3.4 8.8 24.5 26.1 31.2 36.1 47.2 38.2 38
11 China 6.5 6.3 7.9 6.3 -7.9 -4.4 6.4 4.6 5.1 4.5 1.7 0.9 -0.5
12 United Kingdom 6.1 6.2 5 17.3 -4.3 -9.3 3.8 4.3 4.5 4 3.7 2.6 1.6
13 Others 6.1 6.8 6.9 19.9 -3.7 -6.6 5 5.5 5.7 5.9 7.1 5.2 3.8
14 United States 5.6 4.3 4.3 12.3 -2.9 -5.8 2.9 3.2 3.7 2.7 2 2.6 3.3
15 Philippines 4.4 6 7.8 8 -1.1 -1.1 4.2 4.1 6.9 6.1 5.5 4 3.1
16 Taiwan 4.4 8.5 12.9 11.9 -8.4 -13.7 6.7 7 7.5 8.3 21.2 20.6 46.3
17 Thailand 2.6 5.9 8.9 12.7 -5.7 -2.6 4.8 4.3 5.3 5 5.3 4.5 2.7
18 Mongolia 0.6 9 17.6 33.4 -8 5.5 16.5 20.2 19.7 15.9 13.7 11.9 7.1
19 South Korea -0.5 -0.2 -0.3 0.4 -4 -4.4 -0.7 -0.2 -0.5 -1 -1.7 -3.3 -1.7
20 Peru -0.5 0.3 0.4 1.3 0.1 -0.8 0.6 0.8 0.5 0 -0.5 -1.3 -1.3
21 Brazil -0.9 0 1.2 2.2 -1.8 -1.5 4.9 5.5 5.8 4.3 -1.1 -3.3 -4.9
22 North Korea -4.3 -4.5 -4.2 -3.6 -3.3 -3.1 -4.9 -4.2 -4.9 -4.4 -5.1 -7.1 -5.2
Table 2
1.1.2.2 Time series chart
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Figure 44

2 Data Source

  • Immigration Bureau of Japan

3 Release frequency

  • Annually

4 Last updated date

Sys.time()
[1] "2026-04-04 17:45:10 JST"

6 R & Quarto

R.Version()$version.string
[1] "R version 4.5.3 Patched (2026-03-11 r89773 ucrt)"
quarto::quarto_version()
[1] '1.9.36'

7 Author