{"id":168966,"date":"2025-02-18T13:48:10","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T04:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=168966&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2025-02-18T13:48:10","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T04:48:10","slug":"kurume-population-drops","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/kurume-population-drops\/","title":{"rendered":"Kurume Population Drops Below 300,000 for First Time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kurume City\u2019s population fell to 299,663 as of February 1, marking the first time it has dropped below 300,000 since merging with four neighboring towns in 2005. Once home to 305,948 residents, Kurume saw steady population growth until 2013, but numbers have declined annually since 2017. Residents fear the impact of reduced tax revenues on public services, with local business owners noting a sharp drop in foot traffic. Kurume\u2019s mayor expressed disappointment and announced plans to develop industrial parks, build new infrastructure, and improve flood control to attract more residents, especially younger generations. <\/span><b>Source: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.city.kurume.fukuoka.jp\/1100keikaku\/2010shoukai\/3040toukei\/toukei.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kurume City<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/ <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www3.nhk.or.jp\/fukuoka-news\/20250217\/5010027170.html\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NHK<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/fnn_kurume-view_2022_WEB.jpg?resize=1400%2C1050&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Kurume Population Drops Below 300,000 for First Time\" width=\"1400\" height=\"1050\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-144849\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/fnn_kurume-view_2022_WEB.jpg?w=1400&amp;ssl=1 1400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/fnn_kurume-view_2022_WEB.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/fnn_kurume-view_2022_WEB.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/fnn_kurume-view_2022_WEB.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stay informed with the latest Fukuoka &amp; Kyushu news and events in English. Sign up for our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">free weekly newsletter <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">today and never miss a beat. Opt out anytime, your privacy is our priority. Get the inside scoop with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Now<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Summaries based on public content, errors may occur during translation. Images credited independently. Send feedback using <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/contact\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this <\/span><b>form<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kurume City\u2019s population fell to 299,663 as of February 1, marking the first time it has dropped below 300,000 since&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29305,"featured_media":144849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-168966","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-kurume","news-category-society","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/168966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168966"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}