China vs Germany: Tonne-kilometers of air freight

China
26.17 billion million ton-km
in 2023
Germany
12.77 billion million ton-km
in 2023
China rank
2nd
Germany rank
5th

Tonne-kilometers of air freight over time

  • China
  • Germany
010.0B20.0B30.0B197019962023

How they compare

China currently reports 26.17 billion million ton-km against 12.77 billion million ton-km in Germany, a difference of 13.40 billion million ton-km.

That makes China's figure about 2.0 times Germany's.

The two have swapped places 1 time across 50 shared years of data; in 1974 it was Germany ahead.

China ranks 2nd and Germany ranks 5th of 180 countries.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator
Tonne-kilometers of air freight
Unit
million ton-km
Source
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), via World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
180 places, 7,506 data points, 1970–2023
Last refreshed

Air freight is the volume of freight, express, and diplomatic bags carried on each flight stage (operation of an aircraft from takeoff to its next landing), measured in metric tonnes times kilometers traveled.