Japan - Country information


		Japan	Population Government Economy Geography Communication Transportation

Population		Top of page

Inhabitants		Life expectancy
127,433,494 (July 2007 est.)		total population: 82.02 years male: 78.67 years female: 85.56 years (2007 est.)

Ethnic groups		Religions
Japanese 98.5%, Koreans 0.5%, Chinese 0.4%, other 0.7%		observe both Shinto and Buddhist 84%, other 16% (including Christian 0.7%)

Languages		Literacy
Japanese		definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 99% male: 99% female: 99% (2002)

Government		Top of page

Government type		Capital
constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government		Tokyo

Independance		National day
660 B.C. (traditional founding by Emperor JIMMU)		Birthday of Emperor AKIHITO, 23 December (1933)

Constitution		Legal system
3 May 1947		modeled after European civil law system with English-American influence; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations

Economy		Top of page

GDP (purchasing power parity)		Growth rate
$4.911 trillion (2006 est.)		2.8% (2006 est.)

GDP per inhabitant		Unemployment rate
$33,100 (2006 est.)		4.1% (2006 est.)

Population below poverty line		Inflation rate
NA%		0.3% (2006 est.)

Exports		Imports
$590.3 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)		$524.1 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold		Currency
$864.7 billion (August 2006 est.)		yen (JPY)

Military expenditures
0.8% (2006)

Geography		Top of page

Location		Area
Eastern Asia, island chain between the North Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan (East Sea), east of the Korean Peninsula		377,835 sq km

Climate		Natural resources
varies from tropical in south to cool temperate in north		negligible mineral resources, fish

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