Japan - Geography
Here, let us take a look at the Geography of Japan.
note 1: strategic location in northeast Asia; composed of four main islands (the "Home Islands") - from north: Hokkaido, Honshu (the largest, most populous, and site of Tokyo, the capital), Shikoku, and Kyushu
note 2: a 2023 Geospatial Information Authority of Japan survey technically detected 100,000 islands and islets, but only the 14,125 islands with a circumference of at least 100 m (330 ft) were officially counted; only about 260 of the islands are inhabited
note 3: Japan annually records the most earthquakes in the world; it is one of the countries along the Ring of Fire, a belt of active volcanoes and earthquake epicenters bordering the Pacific Ocean; up to 90% of the world's earthquakes and some 75% of the world's volcanoes occur within the Ring of Fire
. Mother's mean age at first birth is 30.7 years (2018 est.) (), whereas, the Maternal mortality ratio is 4 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est.)Geographical data of Japan
| Location | Eastern Asia, island chain between the North Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan, east of the Korean Peninsula |
|---|---|
| Geographic coordinates | 36 00 N, 138 00 E |
| Map references | Asia |
| Tarrain | mostly rugged and mountainous |
| Natural Resources | negligible mineral resources, fish; note - with virtually no natural energy resources, Japan is almost totally dependent on imported sources of energy |
| Natural Hazards | many dormant and some active volcanoes; about 1,500 seismic occurrences (mostly tremors but occasional severe earthquakes) every year; tsunamis; typhoons volcanism: both Unzen (1,500 m) and Sakura-jima (1,117 m), which lies near the densely populated city of Kagoshima, have been deemed Decade Volcanoes by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, worthy of study due to their explosive history and close proximity to human populations; other notable historically active volcanoes include Asama, Honshu Island's most active volcano, Aso, Bandai, Fuji, Iwo-Jima, Kikai, Kirishima, Komaga-take, Oshima, Suwanosejima, Tokachi, Yake-dake, and Usu; see note 2 under "Geography - note" |
| Irrigated Land | 15,730 sq km (2014) |
| Major rivers (by length in km) | |
| Major aquifers | |
| Land Boundaries | 0 km |
| Border Countries | |
| Coastline | 29,751 km |
| Climate | varies from tropical in south to cool temperate in north |
| Area | |
| Total Area | 377,915 sq km |
| Land Area | 364,485 sq km |
| Water Area | 13,430 sq km |
| comparative Area | slightly smaller than California |
| Maritime Claims | |
| Territorial sea | 12 nm; between 3 nm and 12 nm in the international straits - La Perouse or Soya, Tsugaru, Osumi, and the Korea and Tsushima Straits |
| Contiguous zone | 24 nm |
| Exclusive economic zone | 200 nm |
| Elevations | |
| Highest point | Mount Fuji 3,776 m |
| Lowest point | Hachiro-gata -4 m |
| Mean elevation | 438 m |
| Land Use | |
| Agricultural land | 12.5% (2018 est.) |
| Agricultural land: arable land | arable land: 11.7% (2018 est.) |
| Agricultural land: permanent crops | permanent crops: 0.8% (2018 est.) |
| Agricultural land: permanent pasture | permanent pasture: 0% (2018 est.) |
| Forest | 68.5% (2018 est.) |
| Other | 19% (2018 est.) |
Population Distribution
All primary and secondary regions of high population density lie on the coast; one-third of the population resides in and around Tokyo on the central plain (Kanto Plain)
People and Society
In Japan, the different Ethnic groups are such that we have: Japanese 97.5%, Chinese 0.6%, Vietnam 0.4%, South Korean 0.3%, other 1.2% (includes Filipino, Brazilian, Nepalese, Indonesian, American, and Taiwanese) (2022 est.)
| Population | |
|---|---|
| Pop growth rate | -0.43% (2024 est.) |
| Birth rate | 6.9 births/1,000 population (2024 est.) |
| Death rate | 11.9 deaths/1,000 population (2024 est.) |
| Health expenditure | 10.9% of GDP (2020) |
| Physicians Density | 2.48 physicians/1,000 population (2018) |
| Hospital bed Density | 13 beds/1,000 population (2018) |
| Total fertility rate | 1.4 children born/woman (2024 est.) |
| Gross reproduction rate | 0.68 (2024 est.) |
| Contraceptive prevalence rate | 39.8% (2015) |
| Est married women (ages 15-49) | 46.8% (2023 est.) |
| Literacy | |
| Education expenditures | 3.4% of GDP (2020 est.) |
| Net Migration rate | 0.7 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2024 est.) |
| Nationality | Japanese | Japanese (singular and plural) |
| Languages | |
| Religions | Shintoism 48.6%, Buddhism 46.4%, Christianity 1.1%, other 4% (2021 est.) |
| Age Structure | |
| 0-14 years | 12.1% (male 7,701,196/female 7,239,389) |
| 15-64 years | 58.4% (male 36,197,840/female 35,777,966) |
| 65 years and over | 29.5% (2024 est.) (male 15,976,233/female 20,309,321) |
| Dependency Ratios | |
| Total dependency ratio | 71.1 |
| Youth dependency ratio | 20.1 |
| Elderly dependency ratio | 51 |
| Potential support ratio | 2 (2021 est.) |
| Median Age | |
| Total | 49.9 years (2024 est.) |
| Male | 48.3 years |
| Female | 51.3 years |
| Urbanization | |
| Urban population | 92% of total population (2023) |
| Rate of urbanization | -0.25% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.) |
| Major urban areas (Pop) | 37.194 million TOKYO (capital), 19.013 million Osaka, 9.569 million Nagoya, 5.490 million Kitakyushu-Fukuoka, 2.937 million Shizuoka-Hamamatsu, 2.666 million Sapporo (2023). |
| Sex Ratio | |
| At birth | 1.06 male(s)/female |
| 0-14 years | 1.06 male(s)/female |
| 15-64 years | 1.01 male(s)/female |
| 65 years and over | 0.79 male(s)/female |
| Total population | 0.95 male(s)/female (2024 est.) |
| Infant Motality | |
| Total | 1.9 deaths/1,000 live births (2024 est.) |
| Male | 2 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Female | 1.7 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Life Expectancy at birth | |
| Total population | 85.2 years (2024 est.) |
| Male | 82.3 years |
| Female | 88.2 years |
| Drinking Water Sources | |
| Improved: urban | urban: NA |
| Improved: rural | rural: NA |
| Improved: total | total: 99.1% of population |
| Unimproved: urban | urban: NA |
| Unimproved: rural | rural: NA |
| Unimproved: total | total: 0.1% of population (2020 est.) |
| Sanitation facility acess | |
| Improved: urban | urban: NA |
| Improved: rural | rural: NA |
| Improved: total | total: 99.9% of population |
| Unimproved: urban | urban: NA |
| Unimproved: rural | rural: NA |
| Unimproved: total | total: 0.1% of population (2020 est.) |
| Alcohol consumption per capita | |
| Total | 8.36 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
| Beer | 1.35 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
| Wine | 0.29 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
| Spirits | 1.63 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
| Other alcohols | 5.09 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.) |
| Tobacco use | |
| Total | 20.1% (2020 est.) |
| Male | 30.1% (2020 est.) |
| Female | 10% (2020 est.) |
Demographic profile
All Important Facts about Japan
Want to know more about Japan? Check all different factbooks for Japan below.
