The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare published "Japan in 100 People, Japan in One Day" as a special project of the 2025 White Paper on Health, Labour and Welfare.
This project is an infographic that expresses Japan's population of 124 million people scaled down to 100 people, visually and understandably showing the current state of Japanese society and daily movements. By converting complex statistical data into a familiar and easily understandable format, it aims to help especially younger generations intuitively understand the reality of Japanese society.
"Japan in 100 People" expresses the basic structure of Japanese society, including age composition, employment status, household composition, and social security usage status, on an easily understandable scale of 100 people. For example, it visually shows age composition with approximately 30 people aged 65 and over, approximately 60 people of working age population (15-64 years), and approximately 12 people under 15, as well as employment structure with approximately 60 working people, of which approximately 40 are in regular employment and approximately 20 in non-regular employment.
"Japan in One Day" expresses chronologically what kinds of activities are conducted in medical care, nursing care, labor, education and other fields within 24 hours of a day. For example, it introduces the daily movements in fields under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare with specific numbers, such as the number of babies born per day, the number of people visiting medical institutions, the number of people using nursing care services, and the number of occupational accidents.
This initiative attracts attention as a new information dissemination method adapted to the digital age, compared to conventional white papers that were centered on text and detailed statistical tables. It has a composition that is easy to view on smartphones and tablets, with anticipated use for social media dissemination and educational settings.
The article shows that new public relations methods utilizing data visualization and storytelling are being introduced as part of efforts by administrative agencies to provide more familiar and understandable information dissemination to citizens.