Japan’s Newspaper Circulation Continues to Decline: Yomiuri Loses 470,000 Copies in One Year

By Tetsuya Kuroyabu
The decline in newspaper circulation in Japan continues. The Yomiuri Shimbun, which had a circulation of approximately 10 million copies in the 2000s and was listed in the Guinness World Records as the newspaper with the world’s largest circulation, lost approximately 470,000 copies over the past year. Its current circulation is about 4.9 million copies.
The newspaper circulation figures for August 2026, released by the Japan Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC), show that the Yomiuri Shimbun lost approximately 470,000 copies compared with the same month of the previous year. The Asahi Shimbun lost approximately 120,000 copies, while the Mainichi Shimbun lost approximately 140,000 copies.
Circulation continues to decline across Japan, affecting both national and regional newspapers.
The figures for Japan’s major national newspapers are as follows.



















































