India and Japan - country comparison

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

Table of Contents

India and Japan – country comparison

GDP

2025 (IMF)	India	Japan
Currency	Indian Rupee	Japanese Yen
GDP (nominal, USD)	$3.92 trillion	$4.44 trillion
GDP per capita (nominal, USD)	$2.68 thousand	$35.97 thousand
GDP (PPP, international $)	$17.26 trillion	$7.01 trillion
GDP per capita (PPP, international $)	$11.79 thousand	$56.85 thousand

Source: International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Population

India has a significantly larger population than Japan. Both India and Japan are densely populated countries. The table below compares the population, total fertility rate (TFR), and the percentage of the population in different age groups in the two countries.

2025 estimate	India	Japan
Population	1.46 billion	123.1 million
Population aged 0-14	24.2%	11%
Population aged 15-64	68.7%	59%
Population aged 65 and older	7%	30%
Total fertility rate, per woman	1.9	1.2

Source: United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

Life

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

Overview

India is about 8.7 times larger than Japan. It is one of the largest countries in the world, ranking seventh globally in terms of area. Japan also covers a considerable area and is among the largest island countries.

	India	Japan
Area	approximately 3.3 million sq km	approximately 378,000 sq km
Population	1.46 billion (2025 estimate)	123.1 million (2025 estimate)
Capital city	New Delhi	Tokyo
Largest city	Delhi	Tokyo
Largest metropolitan area	National Capital Region (NCR)	Greater Tokyo Area
Most spoken language	Hindi	Japanese
Most popular sport	Cricket	Baseball

Geography

	India	Japan
Continent	Asia	Asia
Forest cover (2023)	24.5%	68.4%
Total number of time zones	1	1
Highest mountain	K2 (8,611 m/28,251 ft) (claimed); Kanchenjunga (8,586 m/28,169 ft) (otherwise)	Mount Fuji (3,776 m/12,388 ft)
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.

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

Tourism

	India	Japan
International tourist arrivals	20.6 million (2024)	36.9 million (2024)
Number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites	45	27
Popular places to visit	Himalayas, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur, Kolkata, etc.	Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Sapporo, Yokohama, Okinawa, etc.
Busiest airport	Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi	Haneda Airport, Tokyo

National symbols

	India	Japan
National animal	Tiger	–
National tree	Indian banyan tree	Cherry blossom
National bird	Indian peafowl	Green pheasant

India and Japan – country comparison | India vs Japan