More than 30,000 people moved out disaster-hit Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures in the three months to May, the government said July 8.
More than 30,000 people moved out disaster-hit Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures in the three months to May, the government said July 8.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, a population transfer survey, based on the Basic Resident Register, showed that population outflow exceeded inflow by 31,752 across the three prefectures between March and May.
That figure was 3.4 times higher, or 22,000 more, than in the same period in 2010.
It is the first time the net number of people leaving the three prefectures in three months has topped 30,000 in 39 years, the ministry said.
Fukushima Prefecture, home to crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, saw the largest outflow, with 17,524 people leaving, a 3.8 fold increase from the same period last year.
Miyagi Prefecture registered a net loss of 10,188 people, exceeding 10,000 for the first time in 48 years.
However, the number of people moving into Tokyo and the surrounding metropolitan area was 17 percent lower than in the same period last year, or 13,156 fewer people, with just 65,381 coming in.
Commenting on the decrease, an official at the ministry's Population Census Division said, "Population inflow temporarily stopped because of the rolling blackouts and the postponement of entrance ceremonies at schools and companies."