India and Japan – country comparison | India vs Japan

The following is a comparison between India, a large country in southern Asia, and Japan, an island country in eastern Asia. Let’s read.

India vs Japan – country comparison

Which country has a larger area, India or Japan?

India is around 8.7 times larger than Japan. India is one of the largest countries in the world. It ranks number 7 in terms of area in the world. Japan too has a large area. It is one of the largest island countries.

• India area – approximately 3.3 million sq km
• Japan area – approximately 378,000 sq km

Which country has a larger population, India or Japan?

• Population of India – 1.44 billion (2024 estimate)
• Population of Japan – 122.6 million (2024 estimate)

GDP

2024 (IMF)	India	Japan
Currency	Indian Rupee	Japanese Yen
GDP (nominal)	$3.91 trillion	$4.03 trillion
GDP per capita	$2.71 thousand	$32.5 thousand
GDP (PPP)	$16.19 trillion	$6.53 trillion

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Life

	India	Japan
Life expectancy at birth (UN/2023)	72	84.71
Human Development Index rank (2023)	130th	23rd
Human Development Index value	0.685	0.925

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Overview

	India	Japan
Area	approximately 3.3 million sq km	approximately 378,000 sq km
Population	1.44 billion (2024 estimate)	122.6 million (2024 estimate)
Capital city	New Delhi	Tokyo
Largest city	Delhi	Tokyo
Most spoken language	Hindi	Japanese
Largest Metropolitan area	National Capital Region (NCR)	Greater Tokyo Area
Most popular sport	Cricket	Baseball

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Geographical features

	India	Japan
Highest mountain	K2 (8,611 m/28,251 ft) (claimed), Kanchenjunga (8,586 m/28,169 ft) (otherwise)	Mount Fuji (3,776 m)
Largest island	North Andaman	Honshu Island
Largest lake	Vembanad Lake	Lake Biwa
Major rivers	Ganga, Brahmaputra, Teesta, Godavari, Krishna, Yamuna, Indus, etc	Shinano, Ishikari, Tone, Teshio, Kushiro, Kitakami, Abukuma, etc
Major mountain ranges	Himalayas, Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, Aravalli Range, Satpura Range, etc	Hida Mountains, Kiso Mountains, Akaishi Mountains, Kyushu Mountains, etc
Forest cover (2022)	24.4%	68.4%

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(Also read: Japan and South Korea – country comparison | Japan vs South Korea)

National symbols

	India	Japan
National Animal	Tiger	–
National tree	Indian Banyan tree	Cherry blossom
National bird	Indian peafowl	Green pheasant

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Tourism

	India	Japan
Places to visit	Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur, Kolkata, etc	Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Sapporo, Yokohama, etc
Asia tourism ranking (2019)	5th	3rd
Number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites	43	26
Busiest Airport	Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi	Haneda Airport, Tokyo

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Flags