Brazil vs Japan: Number of people living in cities with more than 1 million residents
Brazil
64.18 million people
in 2020
Japan
64.56 million people
in 2020
Brazil rank
6th
Japan rank
5th
Number of people living in cities with more than 1 million residents over time
- Brazil
- Japan
How they compare
Japan currently reports 64.56 million people against 64.18 million people in Brazil, a difference of 377,800 people.
Across all 15 years both countries report, Japan has been ahead every year.
Brazil ranks 6th and Japan ranks 5th of 182 countries.
Japan has averaged higher in every one of the 8 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Brazil | Japan | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 6.04 million people | 25.18 million people | 19.13 million people | Japan |
| 1960s | 10.81 million people | 37.29 million people | 26.48 million people | Japan |
| 1970s | 19.53 million people | 48.44 million people | 28.91 million people | Japan |
| 1980s | 31.51 million people | 54.58 million people | 23.06 million people | Japan |
| 1990s | 39.84 million people | 59.31 million people | 19.48 million people | Japan |
| 2000s | 49.12 million people | 60.87 million people | 11.75 million people | Japan |
| 2010s | 56.98 million people | 63.35 million people | 6.37 million people | Japan |
| 2020s | 64.18 million people | 64.56 million people | 377,800 people | Japan |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher number of people living in cities with more than 1 million residents, Brazil or Japan?
- Japan, at 64.56 million people against 64.18 million people in Brazil as of 2020.
- What is the difference in number of people living in cities with more than 1 million residents between Brazil and Japan?
- 377,800 people, with Japan ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Brazil and Japan?
- 15 years are reported by both, from 1950 to 2020.
- How do Brazil and Japan rank globally for number of people living in cities with more than 1 million residents?
- Brazil ranks 6th and Japan ranks 5th of 182 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as Number of people living in cities with more than 1 million residents. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Total population living in cities with 1 million or more people. City boundaries are defined using a consistent global approach based on satellite imagery and population data.