The outline of the government's policy for regional revitalization may identify the right goals to halt the population flight to the Tokyo area from other parts of the country. The question is how effective the measures in the package will be in achieving them.

According to the latest statistics, Japan's population at the beginning of January fell by a record 271,000 from a year earlier to 126.16 million, for the sixth consecutive annual decline. The population declined in 41 of the nation's 47 prefectures. The three major metropolitan areas — the greater Tokyo area including Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa, the Nagoya area encompassing Aichi, Gifu and Mie prefectures, and the Kansai area covering Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo and Nara — accounted for more than half of Japan's total population for the ninth year in a row. But it was only the Tokyo area, where nearly 28 percent of the population is concentrated, that saw a year-on-year increase.

The policy outline for regional revitalization, adopted by the Abe administration late last month, warns that the flight to Tokyo may accelerate as medical and nursing care needs expand along with the aging of the population. It says a recovery in consumer spending following the slump caused by the consumption tax hike in April last year remains a mixed picture across regions, while a manpower shortage is becoming acute in some regions outside of the big metropolitan areas.