Number of people turned 20 marks record low

The number of Japanese people who turned 20 in 2009 marked a record low.

Twenty is the age of majority in Japan.

A survey conducted by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry shows that one point two-seven million Japanese people reached the age of majority in 2009.

It's the lowest number since the ministry started collecting such data in 1968 and the first time it has dropped below one-point-three million.

Twenty-year-olds represent one percent of the Japanese population -- also a record-low ratio.

The number of Japanese people who turned 20 reached its peak in 1970 with two point four-six million. After 1994, when two point zero-seven million people turned 20, the number has been decreasing ever since.

Experts say the number of 20-year-olds will continue to fall. It says the number will be about one-point-two million in ten years.