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Country profile

Japan

At a glance

  • Japan has a population of about 123.4M; its total GDP of $4.4T ranks #4 of 168 countries with data.
  • Its surface area of 404,359 km² is about 2.1× the world median of 190,157 km².
  • GDP (total) stands out most against the median: $4.4T — rank #4 of 168 countries with data.

Japan: all 46 metrics vs the world median

Metric Value Rank vs median
Population & land
Population 123.4M (2025) #12 / 169 median 11.5M · 11×
Population growth -0.5% (2025) #159 / 169 N/A
Urban population share 92.3% (2025) #10 / 169 median 63.8% · 1.4×
Population aged 65+ 30.0% (2025) #1 / 169 median 7.4% · 4.1×
Fertility rate 1.2 (2024) #161 / 169 median 2.1 · 55%
Birth rate 5.7‰ (2024) #166 / 169 median 16.0‰ · 36%
Death rate 13.3‰ (2024) #8 / 169 median 7.1‰ · 1.9×
Net migration 140.6K (2025) #10 / 169 N/A
Surface area 404,359 km² #61 / 176 median 190,157 km² · 2.1×
Population density derived 305/km² (2025) #15 / 169 median 73.2/km² · 4.2×
Economy
GDP (total) $4.4T (2025) #4 / 168 median $80.7B · 55×
GDP per capita $35,951 (2025) #29 / 168 median $6,834 · 5.3×
GNI per capita $38,340 (2025) #24 / 168 median $6,350 · 6.0×
GDP growth (annual) 1.2% (2025) #131 / 168 median 3.1% · 39%
Inflation rate 3.2% (2025) #86 / 162 median 3.3% · 96%
Unemployment rate 2.5% (2025) #148 / 168 median 5.1% · 48%
Gini index 32.3 (2020) #107 / 153 median 35.3 · 92%
Poverty rate ($2.15/day) 1.2% (2020) #90 / 153 median 2.5% · 48%
Trade & industry
Exports share of GDP 22.0% (2024) #121 / 163 median 35.0% · 63%
Imports share of GDP 22.9% (2024) #136 / 163 median 40.2% · 57%
Agriculture share of GDP 1.0% (2024) #155 / 168 median 7.2% · 13%
Manufacturing share of GDP 18.8% (2024) #25 / 165 median 11.2% · 1.7×
International tourist arrivals 4.1M (2020) #40 / 162 median 1.1M · 3.6×
Tourism receipts $11.4B (2020) #18 / 165 median $705M · 16×
Health & education
Life expectancy 84.0 years (2024) #4 / 169 median 73.8 years · 1.1×
Infant mortality 1.8‰ (2024) #164 / 166 median 13.1‰ · 14%
Under-five mortality 2.4‰ (2024) #160 / 166 median 15.8‰ · 15%
DPT immunization 99.0% (2024) #6 / 166 median 90.5% · 1.1×
Hospital beds 12.6 per 1,000 (2022) #4 / 167 median 2.0 per 1,000 · 6.2×
Health spending share of GDP 10.7% (2023) #14 / 165 median 6.5% · 1.6×
Secondary school enrollment 101.5% (2023) #42 / 167 median 90.5% · 1.1×
Education spending share of GDP 3.3% (2021) #110 / 165 median 4.1% · 81%
Society & living
Human Development Index 0.925 (2023) #20 / 165 median 0.754 · 1.2×
Internet users 85.5% (2024) #69 / 169 median 81.5% · 1.0×
Mobile subscriptions 178.4 per 100 (2023) #8 / 169 median 116.4 per 100 · 1.5×
Fixed broadband 38.6 per 100 (2023) #21 / 168 median 12.1 per 100 · 3.2×
Electricity access 100.0% (2024) #36 / 169 median 99.9% · 1.0×
Environment & security
CO₂ emissions per capita 7.8 t (2024) #24 / 165 median 2.6 t · 3.0×
CO₂ emissions (total) derived 972 Mt (2024) #5 / 165 median 21.3 Mt · 46×
Renewable electricity share 21.1% (2021) #108 / 169 median 34.1% · 62%
Renewable energy consumption 8.8% (2021) #141 / 169 median 26.9% · 33%
Forest area 68.4% (2023) #14 / 169 median 32.4% · 2.1×
Agricultural land 12.6% (2023) #144 / 169 median 41.7% · 30%
Arable land 11.1% (2023) #83 / 168 median 11.0% · 1.0×
PM2.5 exposure 11.5 µg/m³ (2023) #137 / 168 median 19.8 µg/m³ · 58%
Military spending 1.4% (2024) #95 / 157 median 1.8% · 76%

Ranks are value-descending and count only the countries that have data for that metric (#1 = highest value); N/A rows occupy no rank.

The median is the unweighted middle value across the countries with data (gold tick) — not a world average. Bars grow with the value: reaching the tick means matching the median, and a full bar means twice the median or more. The median value and this country's multiple are noted under each bar.

Japan's true-shape outline

Japan's border outline from Natural Earth 1:110m boundaries — total surface area 404,359 km².

Japan head-to-head pages

Japan vs China: side-by-side comparison

Japan vs South Korea: side-by-side comparison

Open Japan in the interactive compare tool →

See Japan's true size on the drag-and-drop map →

Measure the distance to Japan →

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Data & method

Indicators: World Bank Open Data, 43 indicators — CC BY 4.0 © World Bank — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/; Human Development Index — CC BY 3.0 IGO © United Nations Development Programme — https://hdr.undp.org/terms-use

Boundaries: Natural Earth 1:110m (public domain); surface areas are computed with an equal-area spherical formula (Chamberlin–Duquette).

Reference facts (capital, languages, currencies, subregion): mledoze/countries (ODbL).