Demographics
Ikata is a small town, with a population of 10,909 as of February 1, 2010. The total area of the town is 94.37 km2, making the population density 116 persons per km2. However, much of the land on the peninsula is quite mountainous and not suited for development; the population density of the individual settlements, which are squeezed into the small bay areas in the foothills of the mountains, is much higher, though reliable statistics are not known.
Like much of rural Japan, Ikata faces a rapidly declining and aging population. According to the Ikata website, nearly 40% of the town's population is 65 or older. Furthermore, many elementary and middle schools have closed since the 1970s. Those that remain have very small student populations. For example, Ikata Elementary School is Ikata's largest elementary school; there were 303 students in 1987, and only 162 in 2006; Toyonoura Elementary is Old Ikata's smallest school; it had 51 students in 1987, and only 14 in 2007.
This population issue was a significant part of the impetus for the recent merger of Old Ikata with Seto and Misaki. While Old Ikata is geographically more accessible, and has enjoyed the economic benefits of the Ikata Nuclear Power Plant, Seto and Misaki have experienced even more severe aging and decline of their populations. In 2000, Seto's working-age population dipped below 50% of its total.
Ethnically Ikata is extremely homogeneous with only a handful of non-Japanese residents, most of whom are either temporary farm laborers from China, or English educators on the JET Programme.
Read more about this topic: Ikata, Ehime