Japan in 5 numbers: people, income, life expectancy

Japan is home to 123,366,734 people, according to the World Bank's figure for 2025. That makes it the 12th most populous of the 217 countries in the World Bank's data, out of about 8.22 billion people worldwide. This clip looks at Japan through five World Bank indicators, each ranked against every country that reported a figure for the same year.

The country's land covers 364,500 square kilometres, the figure for 2024. The World Bank counts land only, leaving out lakes and rivers, and ranks Japan 62nd of 214 countries. The world's land adds up to 129,763,686 square kilometres, so Japan holds a small share of it while ranking 12th for people. Its large population sits on a comparatively small amount of land.

Income per person, measured as gross domestic product per person in current US dollars, was 35,951 dollars in 2025. That places Japan 33rd of the 186 countries with a 2025 figure, and about two and a half times the world figure of 14,406 dollars. GDP per person is an average. It divides the whole economy by the whole population and says nothing about how income is shared.

Life expectancy at birth was 84 years in 2024: how long a newborn would live if the death rates of that year held for its whole life. The world figure is 73.5 years, so Japan is more than 10 years above it and ranks 10th of 217 countries. It is the highest place Japan takes on this list, and the number the clip ends on.

The internet figure counts people who used the internet in the last three months. In Japan that was 85.5 percent in 2024, against a world figure of 71.2 percent, which puts the country 77th of the 182 countries with data for that year. A country can sit near the top of one list and in the middle of another, which is why the clip shows five numbers rather than one.

How we counted: each figure is from the latest year enough countries have reported to rank Japan against all of them, read from the World Bank's open data API in October 2026. Each rank counts only the countries that reported a value for that same year, which is why the totals differ from one number to the next. The population, income and life expectancy figures are estimates that the World Bank compiles from national and international agencies, not a head count. All data: World Bank, World Development Indicators, licensed CC BY 4.0.