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Japan: Toyama city officials accused of inflating census population figures
Overview
Japanese authorities are investigating officials in the central city of Toyama for allegedly falsifying census numbers by adding over 2,000 non-existent residents. Police raided the city hall after a criminal complaint from the central government, which uses census data to calculate funding allocations. Toyama may have received an estimated 60 million yen ($378,000; £285,000) in excess funding due to the discrepancy, as Japan faces a broader national challenge with a rapidly declining and aging population.
Key points
- Police raided Toyama city hall following a criminal complaint that officials inflated the recent census by over 2,000 people.
- Census figures determine central government funding, and Toyama may have improperly received an extra 60 million yen.
- Toyama's actual population last year was 399,197, compared to the allegedly inflated figure of 402,133.
- Investigations suggest officials altered household sizes that census takers had marked as empty to pad the population numbers.
- Mayor Hirohisa Fujii stated the city government will cooperate with the investigation while denying any senior-level instructions to inflate the data.