Japan vs Spain: Number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas
Japan
11.21 million people
in 2020
Spain
10.19 million people
in 2020
Japan rank
32nd
Spain rank
35th
Number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas over time
- Japan
- Spain
How they compare
Japan currently reports 11.21 million people against 10.19 million people in Spain, a difference of 1.02 million people.
That makes Japan's figure about 1.1 times Spain's.
Across all 15 years both countries report, Japan has been ahead every year.
Japan ranks 32nd and Spain ranks 35th of 236 countries.
Japan has averaged higher in every one of the 8 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Japan | Spain | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 11.83 million people | 9.33 million people | 2.50 million people | Japan |
| 1960s | 11.71 million people | 9.56 million people | 2.14 million people | Japan |
| 1970s | 11.69 million people | 9.83 million people | 1.86 million people | Japan |
| 1980s | 12.04 million people | 10.08 million people | 1.96 million people | Japan |
| 1990s | 11.88 million people | 10.12 million people | 1.76 million people | Japan |
| 2000s | 11.53 million people | 10.25 million people | 1.27 million people | Japan |
| 2010s | 11.30 million people | 10.54 million people | 759,000 people | Japan |
| 2020s | 11.21 million people | 10.19 million people | 1.02 million people | Japan |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas, Japan or Spain?
- Japan, at 11.21 million people against 10.19 million people in Spain as of 2020.
- What is the difference in number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas between Japan and Spain?
- 1.02 million people, with Japan ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Japan and Spain?
- 15 years are reported by both, from 1950 to 2020.
- How do Japan and Spain rank globally for number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas?
- Japan ranks 32nd and Spain ranks 35th of 236 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Number of people living in cities, towns and rural areas. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Estimated number of people living in rural areas. Rural areas are identified using satellite imagery and population data, applying the same definitions across countries.