New enrollments at 46.4%, or 277, of four-year private Japanese universities in spring 2021 were less than the number of places offered, up 15.4 percentage points from the previous fiscal year, a survey by a mutual private school organization showed Tuesday.

A decrease of around 26,000 in the 18-year-old population, as well as the number of international students due to the coronavirus pandemic, are believed to be factors in the low enrollments, the Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation for Private Schools of Japan said.

The survey found that the fill rate of places available at overall private universities dropped by 2.8 percentage points to 99.8%, falling below 100% for the first time since the survey began in fiscal 1999.

The number of private universities with fewer admissions than places had been declining for the past four fiscal years. While the overall number of places increased by about 4,000 this fiscal year, total new enrollments fell by about 9,600.