This trend helped Japan become one of the most populous nations globally – with a total population of 128 million in 2011, or the 10th-largest country by population size as of 2010.
Starting with a very high TFR at around 4 in the late 1940s, the TFR dropped to around 2 – a rate much lower than before but still close to the replacement rate (the rate enabling natural population growth) – by 1958. Thereafter, the TFR remained at a still high level of 2 or above (Chart 2).