Find out the basic information you need to invest in real estate in Hokkaido. In this section, we present data on the population of Hokkaido and Sapporo.

1 Population Trends in Hokkaido

Let's take a look at population trends that affect rental demand. The data below shows the population transition in Hokkaido over the past four years.

Date of aggregation Total population Number of households

• 2019: 5,304,413 people 2,781,336 households

• 2020: 5,267,762 people 2,790,286 households

• 2021: 5,228,732 people 2,795,571 households

• 2022: 5,163,605 people 2,722,997 households

*Source: from Hokkaido "Basic Resident Ledger Population and Households.

Hokkaido's population, which was 5,506,419 at the 2010 census, was 5,163,605 as of 2022, the latest available data, representing a decrease of approximately 350,000 people in 12 years.

The number of households, which is important to note for real estate investment, decreased from 2,781,336 in 2019 to 2,722,997 in 2022.

2 Population Trends in Sapporo

Next, let us look at Sapporo City, where about one-third of Hokkaido's population is concentrated. The table below shows the total population and the number of households from 2000.

Date of total Population Total Population Number of Households

2000: 1,822,368 persons 781,948 households

2010: 1,913,545 people 885,848 households

2020: 1,973,395 people 969,161 households

2021: 1,973,331 people 977,768 households

2022: 1,973,495 people 985,211 households

Source: from "Population Estimates, City of Sapporo

Although the range is smaller, Sapporo's population continues to increase. The number of households has increased by about 100,000 over the past year, and is approaching the one million household mark.