World Population PyramidsPopulation pyramids and indicators by country and year日本語

Japan vs China: population pyramids in 2018

2018Swap

JapanChina

1%0.75%0.5%0.25%0%0.25%0.5%0.75%1%0102030405060708090100MaleFemale

Each bar is the share of the total population at that single year of age (men left, women right), so countries of different sizes can be compared.

Japan and China compared

In 2018, Japan has a population of 126.9 million and China 1.42 billion; China is about 11 times the size of Japan.

The share aged 65 and over is 28.1% in Japan and 11.3% in China, 16.9 points higher in Japan. The median age is 47.7 years in Japan and 37.4 years in China.

The total fertility rate is 1.37 in Japan and 1.54 in China, both below the replacement level of about 2.1. Life expectancy at birth is 84.3 years in Japan and 77.7 years in China.

By 2050, the population of Japan is projected to shrink by 17.2% and that of China to shrink by 10.7% compared with 2018.

GDP per person is $36K in Japan (2025) and $14K in China (2025).

Key figures (2018)

JapanChina
Population126.9 million1.42 billion
Aged 0–1412.6%18.4%
Aged 15–6459.3%70.4%
Aged 65+28.1%11.3%
Median age47.7 yrs37.4 yrs
Old-age dependency47.516.0
Total fertility rate1.371.54
Life expectancy84.3 yrs77.7 yrs
Population growth-0.14%+0.37%
Net migration (per year)+320,601-198,206
GDP$4.44T (2025)$19.5T (2025)
GDP per person$36K (2025)$14K (2025)
Unemployment2.5% (2025)4.6% (2025)

Economic figures are the latest year published for each country.

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