Society

Number of foreign nationals in Japan falls for second straight year

Mar 30 (NHK) - The number of foreign nationals in Japan has declined for the second straight year due to the coronavirus.

The Immigration Services Agency said there were about 2.76 million foreign nationals in Japan at the end of 2021, down about 126,000 from a year earlier.

By status, foreign permanent residents were the largest group at about 831,000. There were about 276,000 students and technical interns.

About 18,000 foreign nationals were ordered to leave Japan last year for staying in the country illegally and other reasons, up about 2,000 from 2020. Approximately 13,000 of them worked illegally, mainly in the agriculture and construction sectors.

Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo, had 2,064 illegal foreign workers, the largest number, followed by 1,973 in Ibaraki, and 1,632 in Saitama, which are also near Tokyo.

About 4,100 foreign nationals were deported, about 1,300 fewer than the previous year as the number of international flights decreased due to the coronavirus.

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