Japan

Facts & Figures

Map of Japan
  • Emperor: Naruhito (2019)

    Prime Minister: Fumio Kishida (2021)

    Land area: 140,728 sq mi (364,485 sq km); total area: 145,913 sq mi (377,915 sq km)

    Population (2022 est.): 124,214,766 (growth rate: -0.39%); birth rate: 6.95/1000; infant mortality rate: 1.9/1000; life expectancy: 84.83

    Capital and largest city (2022 est.): Tokyo, 37.274 million

    Other large cities: Osaka-Kobe 19.060 million; Nagoya 9.572 million; Fukuoka-Kitakyushu 5.503 million; Shizuoka-Hamamatsu, 2.935 million; Sapporo 2.669 million (2022)

    Monetary unit: Yen

    National name: Nippon

    Current government officials

    Language: Japanese

    Ethnicity/race: Japanese 97.9%, Chinese 0.6%, Korean 0.4%, other 1.1% (includes Vietnamese, Filipino, and Brazilian) (2017 est.)

    Religions: Shintoism 70.5%, Buddhism 67.2%, Christianity 1.5%, other 5.9% (2019 est.)

    National Holiday: Birthday of Emperor Akihito, December 23

    Literacy rate: 99% (2002 est.)

    Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2019 est.): $5,224,850,000,000; per capita $41,400. Real growth rate: .7%. Inflation: 0.4%. Unemployment: 2.36%. Arable land: 11.7%. Agriculture: rice, sugar beets, vegetables, fruit; pork, poultry, dairy products, eggs; fish. Labor force: 66.54 million; agriculture 2.9%, industry 26.2%, services 60.9% (2015). Industries: among world's largest and technologically advanced producers of motor vehicles, electronic equipment, machine tools, steel and nonferrous metals, ships, chemicals, textiles, processed foods. Natural resources: negligible mineral resources, fish. Exports: $793.32 billion (2020 est.): transport equipment, motor vehicles, semiconductors, electrical machinery, chemicals. Major trading partners (exports): United States 19%, China 18%, South Korea 6%, Taiwan 6% (2019). Imports: $799.52 billion (2020 est.): petroleum 15.5%; liquid natural gas 5.7%; clothing 3.9%; semiconductors 3.5%; coal 3.5%; audio and visual apparatus 2.7% (2011 est.). Major trading partners (imports): China 23%, United States 11%, Australia 6% (2019).

    Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 61,978,594 (2020); mobile cellular: 195,054,893 (2020). Broadcast media: a mixture of public and commercial broadcast TV and radio stations; 6 national terrestrial TV networks including 1 public broadcaster; the large number of radio and TV stations available provide a wide range of choices; satellite and cable services provide access to international channels (2019). Internet hosts: 64.453 million (2012). Internet users: 113,252,419 (2020).

    Transportation: Railways: total: 27,311 km (2015). Highways: total: 1,210,251 km; paved: 973,234 km (includes 7,803 km of expressways); unpaved: 237,017 km (2019). Waterways: 1,770 km (seagoing vessels use inland seas) (2010). Ports and terminals: Chiba, Kawasaki, Kiire, Kisarazu, Kobe, Mizushima, Nagoya, Osaka, Tokyo, Yohohama. Airports: 175 (2021).

    International disputes: the sovereignty dispute over the islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, and Shikotan, and the Habomai group, known in Japan as the "Northern Territories" and in Russia as the "Southern Kuril Islands", occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945, now administered by Russia and claimed by Japan, remains the primary sticking point to signing a peace treaty formally ending World War II hostilities; Japan and South Korea claim Liancourt Rocks (Take-shima/Tok-do), occupied by South Korea since 1954; China and Taiwan dispute both Japan's claims to the uninhabited islands of the Senkaku-shoto (Diaoyu Tai) and Japan's unilaterally declared exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea, the site of intensive hydrocarbon prospecting.

    Major sources and definitions

    Recent Rulers of Japan

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