If you were born in Japan
In 2023, about 1 in 176 babies on Earth was born in Japan: 749,884 births in the year, about 1.4 every minute (UN World Population Prospects 2024).
A baby born in Japan today can expect to live 84.7 years, which ranks 2 of 194 countries and regions.
The numbers
| Here | World | United States | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Babies born here | 1 in 176 | — | 1 in 36 |
| Life expectancy at birth | 84.7 | 70.2 | 79.3 |
| Women / men | 87.7 / 81.7 | — | 81.8 / 76.9 |
| Children who die before 5 | 0.2% | 3.7% | 0.6% |
| Children per woman | 1.21 | 2.87 | 1.62 |
| Live in cities | 92% | 51% | 80% |
| Income per person (PPP $) | $54,156 | $17,038 | $86,170 |
| Income inequality (Gini) | 32.3 | 34.6 | 41.8 |
| Finish primary school | 97%* | 86% | 96% |
| Finish middle school | 100%* | 72% | 100% |
| Enrol in university | 65% | 35% | 79% |
| Women’s age at first marriage | 29.2 | 22.7 | 27.5 |
| Men’s age at first marriage | 30.5 | 27.0 | 29.2 |
| Use the internet | 86% | 60% | 95% |
| Health costs paid out of pocket | 12% | 41% | 11% |
* estimated from similar countries
2,000 lives born here
We ran the 1in8b life engine 2,000 times with every baby born in Japan, using the same data as the game. Of those lives:
- 100%reached age 5
- 100%reached 18
- 92%reached 65
- 73%reached 80
- 86median age at death
- 96%finished primary school
- 96%finished high school
- 50%graduated from university
- 85%of adults ever married
- 1.3children on average
- 0.4%lost a child under 18
- 2.9%of 30-year-olds at work were farming
Simulated lives follow the national averages. Where you are born in a country, and to whom, changes them a great deal.
You don’t get to choose
In 1in8b you are born where the world’s babies are actually born. There is a 1 in 176 chance it is Japan.
Be born at randomSources: UN World Population Prospects 2024 (births, life tables, fertility); World Bank and ILO (income, schooling, work, marriage, health). Latest year available for each figure.