By AKIHITO OGAWA/ Staff Writer
October 13, 2023 at 13:11 JST
Kobe Port Tower, seen here in September 2021, will reopen in spring 2024 after renovation work. (Ryo Ioka)
KOBE—The city’s estimated population dropped to 1,499,887 this month, the first time it has fallen below 1.5 million since 2001, the municipal government said on Oct. 12.
Kobe Mayor Kizo Hisamoto said at a news conference that the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake had placed a significant strain on the city’s finances, delaying economic promotion and urban development.
“(The earthquake) has taken its toll like a body blow,” he said.
Kobe’s population began to decline after peaking at 1.545 million in 2011. It was surpassed by Fukuoka in 2015 and Kawasaki in 2019.
The 2020 national census ranked Kobe’s population seventh among the 20 government ordinance-designated cities.
The Kobe city government said a notable population decline was seen in the large-scale “new towns” it developed in suburban areas, including Kita and Nishi wards, during the high economic growth of the 1960s and in subsequent years.
The number of residents there fell by around 29,000 in the past five years from 515,000 in 2015.
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