---
title: "Greenland vs Japan — area, population, currency"
description: "Greenland is 2,166,086 km² with 56,831 people; Japan is 377,915 km² with 123,366,734. Area, density, currency, languages and time zones side by side."
url: https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/greenland-vs-japan/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Greenland vs Japan

**Greenland vs Japan: Greenland is larger; Japan has more people**

2,166,086 km² vs 377,915 km² · 56,831 vs 123,366,734

Greenland is 5.7 times larger than Japan — 2,166,086 against 377,915 km². Japan is 2171 times more populous than Greenland — 123,366,734 against 56,831 people.

## Side by side

|  | Greenland | Japan |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capital | Nuuk | Tokyo |
| Area | 2,166,086 km² | 377,915 km² |
| Population | 56,831 (2025) | 123,366,734 (2025) |
| Density | 0.0 /km² | 326.4 /km² |
| Currency | krone (DKK) | Japanese yen (JPY) |
| Official languages | Greenlandic | Japanese |
| Time zones | UTC-04:00, UTC-02:00, UTC+00:00 | UTC+09:00 |
| Calling code | +299 | +81 |
| Drives on the | right | left |
| Continent | North America | Asia |
| ISO codes | GL / GRL | JP / JPN |

## Population density

Japan is 12442 times more densely populated than Greenland — 326 against 0 people per km². Density is where area and population interact, and it often reverses the impression the headline figures give — a large country with a small population can feel emptier than a small crowded one by an enormous margin.

## Practical differences

- They drive on opposite sides — Greenland on the right, Japan on the left.
- Different currencies: the krone and the Japanese yen.
- Greenland spans 3 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.
- Different continents — North America and Asia.

## Greenland

The largest island in the world, and about eighty percent of it is under an ice sheet up to 3 km thick — enough water to raise global sea level roughly 7 m if it all melted. There are no roads between towns; travel is by boat, plane or snow. Its population of under 60,000 lives almost entirely on the ice-free coastal fringe.

## Japan

A 2023 government survey using digital mapping counted 14,125 islands, more than double the long-quoted figure of 6,852. About three-quarters of the land is mountain, so nearly everyone lives on a narrow band of coastal plain. Japan sits where four tectonic plates meet and records a fifth of the world's magnitude-6-and-above earthquakes.

> Neutral facts only. Nothing here addresses politics, government, economics or which country is preferable in any respect — population is the one figure that dates, and it carries its year.

## Common questions

### Is Greenland bigger than Japan?

Greenland is larger — 2,166,086 km² against 377,915 km².

### Which has more people, Greenland or Japan?

Japan, with 123,366,734 against 56,831.

### What is the time difference between Greenland and Japan?

Greenland is UTC-04:00, UTC-02:00, UTC+00:00 and Japan is UTC+09:00. Daylight saving shifts the gap during the year in places that observe it.

## Related pages

- [Greenland](https://atoneplace.net/country/greenland/)
- [Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country/japan/)
- [India vs Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-japan/)
- [China vs Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-japan/)
- [China vs Greenland](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-greenland/)
- [Japan vs United States](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-united-states/)
- [Japan vs United Kingdom](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-united-kingdom/)
- [Japan vs New Zealand](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-new-zealand/)
- [Japan vs Russia](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-russia/)
- [Japan vs Mexico](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-mexico/)
- [Japan vs Spain](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-spain/)
- [Japan vs South Korea](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-south-korea/)
- [Japan vs Netherlands](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-netherlands/)
- [Japan vs Nigeria](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-nigeria/)

## Sources

- The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/) [Public domain (US Government)]
- World Bank Open Data — The World Bank (https://data.worldbank.org/) [CC BY 4.0]