Matchup file

China vs Japan

121 shared metrics.

ChinaLeads in 68

vs121 shared

JapanLeads in 53

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China leads by 15 metrics. Use the same instinct in a quick real-data brawl.

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Country briefing

What matters for both sides

Short real-world notes so the comparison reads like more than a stat strip.

China

Quick notes before you compare the numbers.

Identity

Formal name: People's Republic of China.

CIA 2026

Curated stat

China's population began shrinking in 2022, its first annual decline in about six decades.

World Bank

Japan

Quick notes before you compare the numbers.

Identity

Name origin: the English word for Japan comes from the Chinese name for the country, Cipangu.

CIA 2026

Curated stat

Japan's long slowdown after its asset bubble is famous as the Lost Decade era.

Britannica

Analysis

China leads in 68 of 121 shared metrics, while Japan leads in 53.

China's GDP Growth Rate is 46.7x that of Japan (5.0% vs 0.10%).

China's Irrigated Land is 42.9x that of Japan (690.1K km² vs 15.7K km²).

China's Land Area is 24.8x that of Japan (9.39M km² vs 364.6K km²).

China's Total CO2 Emissions is 12.5x that of Japan (13.1K Mt CO2e vs 972.27 Mt CO2e).

China's Shipping Traffic is 10.9x that of Japan (268.99M vs 22.52M).

Key Comparisons

GDP Growth RateChina leads

China

5.0%

Japan

0.10%

Irrigated LandChina leads

China

690.1K km²

Japan

15.7K km²

Land AreaChina leads

China

9.39M km²

Japan

364.6K km²

Total CO2 EmissionsChina leads

China

13.1K Mt CO2e

Japan

972.27 Mt CO2e

Shipping TrafficChina leads

China

268.99M

Japan

22.52M

PopulationChina leads

China

619.22M

Japan

120.31M

415% higher

Comparison of China and Japan across 121 metrics
				Winner
GDP Growth Rate	5.0%	0.10%	4672% higher	China
Irrigated Land	690.1K km²	15.7K km²	4287% higher	China
Land Area	9.39M km²	364.6K km²	2475% higher	China
Total CO2 Emissions	13.1K Mt CO2e	972.27 Mt CO2e	1250% higher	China
Shipping Traffic	268.99M	22.52M	1095% higher	China
Population	1.41B	123.20M	1042% higher	China
Political Corruption Index	0.55	0.05	1008% higher	China
Electricity Generation	10.1K TWh	1.0K TWh	885% higher	China
Armed Forces Personnel	2.54M	261.0K	871% higher	China
Forest Area	2.26M km²	249.3K km²	805% higher	China
Scientific Publications	898.9K	103.7K	767% higher	China
Wind Electricity Share	10.73%	1.3%	758% higher	China
Electric Generating Capacity	2.95B kW	361.62M kW	716% higher	China
Tourist Arrivals	30.40M	4.12M	639% higher	China
Capital Elevation	43 m	6.0 m	617% higher	China
Water Withdrawal	568.48 B m³	79.7 B m³	613% higher	China
Road Traffic Death Rate	17.4 per 100k	2.7 per 100k	544% higher	China
Domestic Patents	1.43M	222.5K	541% higher	China
Railway Length	150.0K km	27.3K km	449% higher	China
Air Passengers	619.22M	120.31M	415% higher	China
GDP (Nominal)	$18,743,803,170,827.2	$4,027,597,523,550.58	365% higher	China
Agricultural Land (%)	55.43%	12.64%	339% higher	China
Youth Unemployment Rate	15.79% of youth labor force	3.9% of youth labor force	305% higher	China
Teen Birth Rate	5.2 per 1k	1.7 per 1k	201% higher	China
Air Pollution (PM2.5)	34.81 µg/m³	12.84 µg/m³	171% higher	China
Child Mortality	6.2 per 1k births	2.4 per 1k births	158% higher	China
Infant Mortality	4.5 per 1k births	1.8 per 1k births	150% higher	China
Foreign Patents	159.0K	66.7K	138% higher	China
Highest Elevation	8.8K m	3.8K m	134% higher	China
Spirits Consumption	2.5 L/person/yr	1.1 L/person/yr	131% higher	China
UNESCO World Heritage Sites	60 sites	26 sites	131% higher	China
Homicide Rate	0.50 per 100k	0.23 per 100k	119% higher	China
Airports	571	279	105% higher	China
Nobel Laureates Born per Million People	0.01 per 1M people	0.24 per 1M people	97% lower	Japan
Liberal Democracy Index	0.04	0.73	95% lower	Japan
Freedom of Expression Index	0.04	0.85	95% lower	Japan
Inflation Rate	0.20%	2.7%	93% lower	Japan
Electoral Democracy Index	0.07	0.82	91% lower	Japan
McDonald's Outlets per Million PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)	1.6 per 1M people	17.38 per 1M people	91% lower	Japan
Health Spending Per Capita	$672.45	$3,889.36	83% lower	Japan
Unemployment Rate	4.6%	2.6%	78% higher	China
Government Debt (% GDP)	47% of GDP	215.9% of GDP	78% lower	Japan
FDI Inflows (% GDP)	0.10% of GDP	0.43% of GDP	77% lower	Japan
Food Waste per Person	141.64 kg/person/yr	80.57 kg/person/yr	76% higher	China
EV Chargers per 100,000 PeopleSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors - Open Database License (ODbL)	0.22 per 100k people	0.85 per 100k people	74% lower	Japan
Renewable Energy (%)	15.2%	8.8%	73% higher	China
Nurses & Midwives	3.5 per 1k	12.45 per 1k	72% lower	Japan
Coal Electricity Share	54.35%	32.05%	70% higher	China
Women in Parliament (%)	26.54%	15.7%	69% higher	China
Researchers	1.8K per 1M	5.6K per 1M	67% lower	Japan
Vehicles per 1,000 People	212.35 per 1k people	642.15 per 1k people	67% lower	Japan
Obesity Rate	8.2%	4.9%	66% higher	China
Forest Coverage (%)	24.03%	68.4%	65% lower	Japan
GNI Per Capita	$13,660	$36,000	62% lower	Japan
Hospital Beds (per 1,000)	5.0 per 1k	12.7 per 1k	61% lower	Japan
Merchant Fleet Size	8.3K	5.2K	59% higher	China
Population Density	150.26 /km²	341.54 /km²	56% lower	Japan
All-Time Olympic Gold Medals	330 gold medals	211 gold medals	56% higher	China
Milk Consumption per Person	32.66 kg/person/yr	72.06 kg/person/yr	55% lower	Japan
Health Spending (% GDP)	5.4% of GDP	11.42% of GDP	53% lower	Japan
Coastline Length	14.5K km	29.8K km	51% lower	Japan
Elderly Population (%)	14.67%	29.78%	51% lower	Japan
Minimum Paid Vacation Days	5.0 days/yr	10 days/yr	50% lower	Japan
High-Tech Exports (%)	26.28%	17.55%	50% higher	China
Suicide Rate	8.9 per 100k	17.43 per 100k	49% lower	Japan
GDP Per Capita (PPP)	$27,104.87	$51,685.04	48% lower	Japan
Protected Land (%)	15.6%	29.5%	47% lower	Japan
Insufficient Physical Activity	23.84% of adults	44.75% of adults	47% lower	Japan
Youth Population (%)	16.01%	11.44%	40% higher	China
Corruption Perceptions Index	43 pts	71 pts	39% lower	Japan
Renewable Energy (%)	17.47%	12.7%	38% higher	China
Dependency Ratio	44.24% of working-age pop.	70.12% of working-age pop.	37% lower	Japan
ATMs per 100,000 Adults	72.03 per 100k	109.61 per 100k	34% lower	Japan
Death Rate	8.0 per 1k	12.04 per 1k	34% lower	Japan
Credit Card Ownership	46.03% of adults	69.66% of adults	34% lower	Japan
Time Zones Count	4.0 time zones	3.0 time zones	33% higher	China
Tobacco Use Prevalence	22.7% of adults	17.1% of adults	33% higher	China
Women's Political Empowerment	0.59	0.84	30% lower	Japan
Urban Population (%)	65.89%	92.19%	29% lower	Japan
Alcohol Consumption	4.6 L/adult/yr	6.4 L/adult/yr	28% lower	Japan
All-Time Olympic Medals	819 medals	642 medals	28% higher	China
Imports (% GDP)	17.18% of GDP	23.64% of GDP	27% lower	Japan
Average Weekly Work Hours	46.1 hrs/week	36.6 hrs/week	26% higher	China
Mobile Subscriptions (%)	132 per 100 people	178.43 per 100 people	26% lower	Japan
R&D Spending (% GDP)	2.6% of GDP	3.4% of GDP	25% lower	Japan
Military Spending	1.7% of GDP	1.4% of GDP	25% higher	China
Meat Consumption per Person	60.6 kg/person/yr	49.33 kg/person/yr	23% higher	China
Current Account Balance (% of GDP)	3.7% of GDP	4.8% of GDP	23% lower	Japan
Smoking Rate	23.4%	19.2%	22% higher	China
Big Mac Price	$3.66	$3.03	21% higher	China
Median Age	39.1 years	49.0 years	20% lower	Japan
Education Spending (% GDP)	4.0% of GDP	3.3% of GDP	20% higher	China
University Enrollment Rate	76.88%	64.89%	18% higher	China
Doctors (per 1,000)	3.1 per 1k	2.6 per 1k	17% higher	China
Hypertension Prevalence	27.3% of adults	32% of adults	15% lower	Japan
Broadband Access (%)	45 per 100 people	39 per 100 people	15% higher	China
Fertility Rate	1.2 children/woman	1.4 children/woman	15% lower	Japan
Electricity Use (Per Capita)	6.5K kWh/person	7.7K kWh/person	15% lower	Japan
Human Development Index	0.80	0.93	14% lower	Japan
Seafood Consumption per Person	40.33 kg/person/yr	46.65 kg/person/yr	14% lower	Japan
Solar Electricity Share	11.1%	9.8%	13% higher	China
Exports (% GDP)	20.02% of GDP	22.77% of GDP	12% lower	Japan
Nuclear Electricity Share	4.9%	5.5%	11% lower	Japan
Inequality (Gini)	36	32.3	11% higher	China
CO2 Per Capita	8.7 t/person/yr	7.8 t/person/yr	11% higher	China
Electricity Carbon Intensity	525.34 gCO2/kWh	477.26 gCO2/kWh	10% higher	China
Water Stress (%)	20.21%	18.53%	9% higher	China
Beer Consumption	1.1 L/person/yr	1.1 L/person/yr	7% higher	China
Life Expectancy	78.0 years	84.0 years	7% lower	Japan
Digital Payments Used	88.72% of adults	95.79% of adults	7% lower	Japan
Internet Users (%)	92%	87%	6% higher	China
Birth Rate	7.3 per 1k	6.8 per 1k	6% higher	China
Energy Use (Per Capita)	2.9K kg oil eq/person	3.0K kg oil eq/person	6% lower	Japan
Sanitation Access (%)	97.27%	99.94%	3% lower	Japan
Life Evaluation Score	6.1 pts	6.1 pts	1% lower	Japan
Can Raise Emergency Money	95.1% of adults	96.08% of adults	1% lower	Japan
Electricity Access (%)	100%	100%	equal	China
Lowest Elevation	-154 m	-4 m	ranked lower	Japan
Land Border Length	22.5K km	0 km	ranked higher	China
Official Languages Count	1.0	1.0	equal	China
Border Neighbors	16	0	ranked higher	China

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China Japan

Analysis

China leads in 68 of 121 shared metrics, while Japan leads in 53.

China's GDP Growth Rate is 46.7x that of Japan (5.0% vs 0.10%).

China's Irrigated Land is 42.9x that of Japan (690.1K km² vs 15.7K km²).

China's Land Area is 24.8x that of Japan (9.39M km² vs 364.6K km²).

China's Total CO2 Emissions is 12.5x that of Japan (13.1K Mt CO2e vs 972.27 Mt CO2e).

China's Shipping Traffic is 10.9x that of Japan (268.99M vs 22.52M).

Key Comparisons

GDP Growth RateChina leads

China

5.0%

Japan

0.10%

Irrigated LandChina leads

China

690.1K km²

Japan

15.7K km²

Land AreaChina leads

China

9.39M km²

Japan

364.6K km²

Total CO2 EmissionsChina leads

China

13.1K Mt CO2e

Japan

972.27 Mt CO2e

Shipping TrafficChina leads

China

268.99M

Japan

22.52M

PopulationChina leads

China

1.41B

Japan

123.20M

GDP Growth Rate

5.0%

0.10%

Irrigated Land

690.1K km²

15.7K km²

Land Area

9.39M km²

364.6K km²

Total CO2 Emissions

13.1K Mt CO2e

972.27 Mt CO2e

Shipping Traffic

268.99M

22.52M

Population

1.41B

123.20M

Political Corruption Index

0.55

0.05

Electricity Generation

10.1K TWh

1.0K TWh

Armed Forces Personnel

2.54M

261.0K

Forest Area

2.26M km²

249.3K km²

Scientific Publications

898.9K

103.7K

Wind Electricity Share

10.73%

1.3%

Electric Generating Capacity

2.95B kW

361.62M kW

Tourist Arrivals

30.40M

4.12M

Capital Elevation

43 m

6.0 m

Water Withdrawal

568.48 B m³

79.7 B m³

Road Traffic Death Rate

17.4 per 100k

2.7 per 100k

Domestic Patents

1.43M

222.5K

Railway Length

150.0K km

27.3K km

Air Passengers

619.22M

120.31M

China vs Japan

Think you can spot the next winner?

What matters for both sides

China

Japan

Analysis

Key Comparisons

All Metrics

GDP Growth Rate

Irrigated Land

Land Area

Total CO2 Emissions

Shipping Traffic

Population

Political Corruption Index

Electricity Generation

Armed Forces Personnel

Forest Area

Scientific Publications

Wind Electricity Share

Electric Generating Capacity

Tourist Arrivals

Capital Elevation

Water Withdrawal

Road Traffic Death Rate

Domestic Patents

Railway Length

Air Passengers

GDP (Nominal)

Agricultural Land (%)

Youth Unemployment Rate

Teen Birth Rate

Air Pollution (PM2.5)

Child Mortality

Infant Mortality

Foreign Patents

Highest Elevation

Spirits Consumption

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Homicide Rate

Airports

Nobel Laureates Born per Million People

Liberal Democracy Index

Freedom of Expression Index

Inflation Rate

Electoral Democracy Index

McDonald's Outlets per Million People

Health Spending Per Capita

Unemployment Rate

Government Debt (% GDP)

FDI Inflows (% GDP)

Food Waste per Person

EV Chargers per 100,000 People

Renewable Energy (%)

Nurses & Midwives

Coal Electricity Share

Women in Parliament (%)

Researchers

Vehicles per 1,000 People

Obesity Rate

Forest Coverage (%)

GNI Per Capita

Hospital Beds (per 1,000)

Merchant Fleet Size

Population Density

All-Time Olympic Gold Medals

Milk Consumption per Person

Health Spending (% GDP)

Coastline Length

Elderly Population (%)

Minimum Paid Vacation Days

High-Tech Exports (%)

Suicide Rate

GDP Per Capita (PPP)

Protected Land (%)

Insufficient Physical Activity

Youth Population (%)

Corruption Perceptions Index

Renewable Energy (%)

Dependency Ratio