Some are doing pretty well, none better than the Sunday Times, which registered a slight year-on-year increase.

The population has shown a year-on-year increase every year since then.

The late 1970s/early 1980s downturn brought job losses, as production capacity had been planned on a 10% year-on-year increase.

The total weight of transported cargo amounted to a 12% year-on-year increase in 2010.

When planned savings from increased efficiency are taken into account, the year-on-year increase in resources will be 11 per cent.

Last year also saw an 18.4% year-on-year increase in retail sales and a 15.7% rise in industrial output.

Safex experienced a growth of 10.36 million contracts during the 1996/97 financial year, a year-on-year increase of 35 percent.

This represented a 35pc year-on-year increase in output.

Japan's wholesale prices rose 3.5% in the year to February, the smallest year-on-year increase for four months.

The overall pass mark also soared to 97.5 per cent - the 27th straight year-on-year increase.