What is the difference in number of airline passengers per year between Japan and United Kingdom?

1.36 million, with Japan ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for Japan and United Kingdom?

54 years are reported by both, from 1970 to 2023.

Where does this data come from?

International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), via World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as Number of airline passengers per year. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Japan vs United Kingdom: Number of airline passengers per year

Japan

120.31 million

in 2023

United Kingdom

118.95 million

in 2023

Japan rank

6th

United Kingdom rank

7th

Number of airline passengers per year over time

Japan
United Kingdom

How they compare

Japan currently reports 120.31 million against 118.95 million in United Kingdom, a difference of 1.36 million.

The two have swapped places 6 times across 54 shared years of data; in 1970 it was Japan ahead.

Japan ranks 6th and United Kingdom ranks 7th of 183 countries.

Across the 6 decades both report, Japan averaged higher in 5 and United Kingdom in 1.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Japan	United Kingdom	Difference	Ahead
1970s	28.62 million	19.12 million	9.50 million	Japan
1980s	52.96 million	29.84 million	23.11 million	Japan
1990s	89.07 million	55.78 million	33.29 million	Japan
2000s	102.06 million	87.55 million	14.51 million	Japan
2010s	112.88 million	130.63 million	17.75 million	United Kingdom
2020s	75.83 million	67.93 million	7.89 million	Japan

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher number of airline passengers per year, Japan or United Kingdom?: Japan, at 120.31 million against 118.95 million in United Kingdom as of 2023.
What is the difference in number of airline passengers per year between Japan and United Kingdom?: 1.36 million, with Japan ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Japan and United Kingdom?: 54 years are reported by both, from 1970 to 2023.
How do Japan and United Kingdom rank globally for number of airline passengers per year?: Japan ranks 6th and United Kingdom ranks 7th of 183 countries.
Where does this data come from?: International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), via World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as Number of airline passengers per year. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Japan vs United Kingdom: Number of airline passengers per year. Statizoid, drawing on International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), via World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data. Retrieved 28 September 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/compare/number-airline-passengers/japan/united-kingdom/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://reference.statizoid.com/compare/number-airline-passengers/japan/united-kingdom/">Japan vs United Kingdom: Number of airline passengers per year</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator: Number of airline passengers per year
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: 183 places, 7,925 data points, 1970–2023
Last refreshed: 18 September 2026

This represents the total rather than unique passenger activity: this means a person who makes multiple trips is counted multiple times.