China vs Japan: Sovereign state
China
1
in 2025
Japan
1
in 2025
China rank
1st
Japan rank
1st
Sovereign state over time
- China
- Japan
How they compare
China currently reports 1 against 1 in Japan, a difference of 0.
Across all 210 years both countries report, Japan has been ahead every year.
China ranks 1st and Japan ranks 1st of 194 countries.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | China | Japan | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1810s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1820s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1830s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1840s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1850s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1860s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1870s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1880s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1890s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1900s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1910s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1920s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1930s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1940s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1950s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1960s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1970s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1980s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1990s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 2000s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 2010s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 2020s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher sovereign state, China or Japan?
- China, at 1 against 1 in Japan as of 2025.
- What is the difference in sovereign state between China and Japan?
- 0, with China ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for China and Japan?
- 210 years are reported by both, from 1816 to 2025.
- How do China and Japan rank globally for sovereign state?
- China ranks 1st and Japan ranks 1st of 194 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- Gleditsch and Ward (2007) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as Sovereign state. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
The country is identified as a sovereign state by Gleditsch and Ward dataset.