Japan’s Population of Atomic Bomb Survivors Falls Below 100,000

Eighty Years On

According to statistics from Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, there were 99,130 people officially designated as hibakusha or atomic bomb survivors, as of March 31, 2025. Under the former Act on Medical Care for Atomic Bomb Survivors, booklets entitling hibakusha to medical treatment were first distributed in 1957. The number of officially recognized hibakusha reached a peak of 372,264 in 1981 before dropping below 200,000 in March 2014 and falling below 100,000 this year. The average age of survivors is now 86.13 (up 0.55 compared with the previous year).

This August marks the eightieth anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As the remaining hibakusha are very elderly, there is concern that without the direct accounts of atomic bomb survivors, it will be difficult to adequately convey their experiences to later generations.

Data Sources

• Data related to hibakusha (Japanese) from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare.

(Originally published in Japanese. Banner photo: The remains of the Hiroshima Prefectural Exhibition Hall, now known as the Genbaku (A-Bomb) Dome, in September 1945, a month after the atomic bombing on August 6, 1945. © AFP/Jiji.)