Japan vs Latvia: Share of population living in the capital city
Japan
26.7%
in 2020
Latvia
29.0%
in 2020
Japan rank
41st
Latvia rank
39th
Share of population living in the capital city over time
- Japan
- Latvia
How they compare
Latvia currently reports 29.0% against 26.7% in Japan, a difference of 2.3%.
That makes Latvia's figure about 1.1 times Japan's.
Across all 15 years both countries report, Latvia has been ahead every year.
Japan ranks 41st and Latvia ranks 39th of 170 countries.
Latvia has averaged higher in every one of the 8 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Japan | Latvia | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 15.1% | 24.6% | 9.5% | Latvia |
| 1960s | 18.3% | 26.1% | 7.8% | Latvia |
| 1970s | 20.9% | 28.1% | 7.2% | Latvia |
| 1980s | 22.2% | 30.3% | 8.0% | Latvia |
| 1990s | 23.2% | 30.1% | 6.9% | Latvia |
| 2000s | 24.2% | 28.9% | 4.7% | Latvia |
| 2010s | 25.7% | 28.5% | 2.8% | Latvia |
| 2020s | 26.7% | 29.0% | 2.3% | Latvia |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher share of population living in the capital city, Japan or Latvia?
- Latvia, at 29.0% against 26.7% in Japan as of 2020.
- What is the difference in share of population living in the capital city between Japan and Latvia?
- 2.3%, with Latvia ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Japan and Latvia?
- 15 years are reported by both, from 1950 to 2020.
- How do Japan and Latvia rank globally for share of population living in the capital city?
- Japan ranks 41st and Latvia ranks 39th of 170 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as Share of population living in the capital city. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Percentage of the total population living in the country's capital city. City boundaries are defined using a consistent global approach based on satellite imagery and population data.