Law of the Sea, Tropical Timber 94

Geographic note: strategic location in northeast Asia

People
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Population: 125,449,703 (July 1996 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 16% (male 10,121,414; female 9,644,243)
15-64 years: 69% (male 43,624,464; female 43,359,249)
65 years and over: 15% (male 7,737,781; female 10,962,552) (July
1996 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.21% (1996 est.)

Birth rate: 10.19 births/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Death rate: 7.71 deaths/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Net migration rate: -0.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.71 male(s)/female
all ages: 0.96 male(s)/female (1996 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 4.4 deaths/1,000 live births (1996 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 79.55 years
male: 76.57 years
female: 82.68 years (1996 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.46 children born/woman (1996 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Japanese (singular and plural)
adjective: Japanese

Ethnic divisions: Japanese 99.4%, other 0.6% (mostly Korean)

Religions: observe both Shinto and Buddhist 84%, other 16%
(including Christian 0.7%)

Languages: Japanese

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1970 est.)
total population: 99%
male: NA%
female: NA%

Government
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Name of country:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Japan

Data code: JA

Type of government: constitutional monarchy

Capital: Tokyo

Administrative divisions: 47 prefectures; Aichi, Akita, Aomori,
Chiba, Ehime, Fukui, Fukuoka, Fukushima, Gifu, Gumma, Hiroshima,
Hokkaido, Hyogo, Ibaraki, Ishikawa, Iwate, Kagawa, Kagoshima,
Kanagawa, Kochi, Kumamoto, Kyoto, Mie, Miyagi, Miyazaki, Nagano,
Nagasaki, Nara, Niigata, Oita, Okayama, Okinawa, Osaka, Saga,
Saitama, Shiga, Shimane, Shizuoka, Tochigi, Tokushima, Tokyo,
Tottori, Toyama, Wakayama, Yamagata, Yamaguchi, Yamanashi

Independence: 660 BC (traditional founding by Emperor Jimmu)

National holiday: Birthday of the Emperor, 23 December (1933)

Constitution: 3 May 1947

Legal system: modeled after European civil law system with
English-American influence; judicial review of legislative acts in
the Supreme Court; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with
reservations

Suffrage: 20 years of age; universal

Exec