Forty years ago, there were only three megalopolises on our planet - Tokyo, New York and Mexico City. These were the largest million-plus cities in the world. As of 2010, this situation has changed dramatically, because their number has grown to 21. Moreover, according to scientists, in ten years the number of megacities on Earth will be 29, and most of them will concentrate in developing countries. As of today, every twentieth person on the planet is a resident of such cities. The city of Tokyo is especially distinguished among others, the population of which, taking into account the functionally connected suburbs, exceeds the mark of 36 million people.
Heart of Tokyo
Clearly answer the question of the number of inhabitants and the area of the capital, not even all Japanese can. In this case, you should decide on the boundaries. The fact is that they can be administrative lines that separate Tokyo from the suburbs located in the immediate vicinity and connected with it, or the outer line of the city. The prefecture of the Japanese capital itself is not very large. Its length is about 90, and its width is 25 kilometers. The area of the site that it occupies is 2168 square kilometers. If we take into account only the so-called heart of Tokyo, its population is just over 13 million people.
Prefecture
Administratively, the capital of Japan is divided into 23 separate districts. In addition to them, the prefecture includes 26 small towns, 8 villages and 5 villages. It should be noted that they are all located in the so-called Tama zone, in a westerly direction from Tokyo itself. Japan in this part has a mountainous terrain covered with dense forests, which is unsuitable for habitation. Related to this is the fact that not many people live here. Due to the low population of the region by the government, the decision was made to create four national parks here. The metropolitan prefecture also includes two chains of small-sized islands of volcanic origin that extend into the Pacific Ocean for a thousand kilometers in a southerly direction.
Features
The metropolitan government, called the Tokyo Municipality, administers the prefecture. Moreover, each of the 23 urban areas that were discussed earlier has its own municipality with an elected mayor. The key trend that has become characteristic in recent years for Tokyo residents is that the population is increasingly moving from the central areas of the city to neighboring prefectures. There is only one reason for this - the cost of living here is just off scale. At the same time, employees can quickly and comfortably get on their high-speed highways to their office, regardless of their location in Tokyo (Japan occupies one of the leading positions on the planet in terms of transport development and train speed). If we take for example the three central regions - Minato, Chuo and Chiyoda, then at night there are no more than 300 thousand people, while during the day this indicator increases by six to seven times. In general, due to significant daily migration, the population of the Japanese capital, depending on the time of day, may increase and decrease by 3 million people. In this regard, to answer the question of how many people are in Tokyo at one time or another, is not so simple.
Agglomeration
As already noted above, it is rather difficult to determine the line separating the Japanese capital from neighboring prefectures. Even satellite images do not provide a clear answer. The fact is that industrial zones, sleeping quarters, transport infrastructure and so on have grown together. The prefectures neighboring Tokyo, such as Yamanashi, Ibaraki, Chiba, Tochigi, Gumma, Saitama, and Kanagawa, also captured residential neighborhoods. As a result, the largest urban agglomeration on the planet with a population of 36 million people was formed. No other million-plus cities in the world can boast of such an indicator.
Other indicators
The Japanese capital occupies a leading position on the planet not only in terms of population. If you take into account the city itself (23 districts), then it is also the most densely populated on Earth. The population density of Tokyo is more than six thousand people per square kilometer. The very high cost of local real estate is connected with this. Eloquent can be called the fact that the price of the land, as a rule, is comparable with the amount of money, which will be enough to cover it with a layer of gold. Compared to all other prefectures of the state, the smallest part of the territory is reserved for agricultural land - only 8460 hectares. Requests of the capital's inhabitants in the flowers, fruits and vegetables that are grown here, these lands are able to satisfy only partially. On the other hand, in such an indicator as GDP, the metropolitan prefecture is second only to three states - Germany, the USA and Japan itself as a whole.
Long-suffering
What is still characteristic of the city of Tokyo - the prefecture's population is very distressed. Throughout history, local residents have repeatedly been victims of natural disasters (volcanic eruptions and earthquakes). For example, in 1923 a powerful underground storm occurred, the result of which was the death of 140 thousand people. The city itself was destroyed. The spring of 1945 became much more tragic when Tokyo became the main target of American planes during the bombing. The population of the city then decreased by 250 thousand people, since a huge number of incendiary bombs were dropped on residential areas of the Japanese capital.
Interesting facts, studies and forecasts
According to many scientists and researchers, Tokyo will reach its peak in 2020. About 13.35 million people are expected to live in the city then. Only after this the number of local residents will begin to gradually decrease.
Another interesting fact is that if in our time the proportion of older people here is about 21%, then in five or six years it will grow to 24%, and in twenty years it will reach 28.9%. The explanation for this is quite simple. The fact is that the whole country as a whole is characterized by a very low birth rate. In this regard, the government is already taking measures aimed at ensuring the safety of older people, including helping them to find work.
Scientists believe that in ten years the maximum number will reach the number of families in the Japanese capital - about 6.63 million.
In 1920, the first national census of Tokyo residents took place. The population of the city then amounted to 3.7 million people. Just forty years later, the figure rose to 10 million inhabitants. The result was an excessive concentration of the population and worsening living conditions (rising housing prices, inflation, and so on). As a result, between 1980 and 1995 there was a demographic decline.
From 2000 to 2010 a massive influx of immigrants from other prefectures became characteristic of Tokyo. This has led to a 9% increase in population over this period.
Due to the limited amount of free land, the government of the metropolitan Japanese prefecture is actively working to create artificial islands in Tokyo Bay.