The government has terminated housing support for evacuees, practically forcing them to return home.
Since the number of evacuees due to the nuclear accident is not distinguished from the number of evacuees due to tsunamis and earthquakes, this section shows the transition of evacuees in and out of Fukushima Prefecture.
According to the data from Fukushima prefecture, the number of evacuees was more than 160,000 in May 2012, but it decreased to 41,701 in November 2019.
Among them, 10,540 people evacuated inside Fukushima prefecture and 31,148 people evacuated outside the prefecture.
Fukushima Prefecture’s Comprehensive Plan released December 2012, the prefecture set forth the goal of “zero evacuees by 2020”.
As part of the government and Fukushima Prefecture’s policy to promote the return of people to their homes, evacuation zones have been lifted one after another and housing support has been suspended. These policies practically force evacuees to return to their homes.
In addition, some local governments have pointed out that the above figures have been underestimated, for example, since April 2017, they have stopped counting evacuees from areas outside the Evacuation Order Zone.
Sources (in Japanese):
Fukushima Prefecture, https://www.pref.fukushima.lg.jp/uploaded/attachment/362626.pdf
https://www.pref.fukushima.lg.jp/uploaded/life/460741_1172968_misc.