---
title: "Iran vs Japan — area, population, currency"
description: "Iran is 1,648,195 km² with 92,417,681 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/iran-vs-japan/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Iran vs Japan

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

1,648,195 km² vs 377,915 km² · 92,417,681 vs 123,366,734

Iran is 4.4 times larger than Japan — 1,648,195 against 377,915 km². Japan is 1.3 times more populous than Iran — 123,366,734 against 92,417,681 people.

## Side by side

|  | Iran | Japan |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capital | Tehran | Tokyo |
| Area | 1,648,195 km² | 377,915 km² |
| Population | 92,417,681 (2025) | 123,366,734 (2025) |
| Density | 56.1 /km² | 326.4 /km² |
| Currency | Iranian rial (IRR) | Japanese yen (JPY) |
| Official languages | Persian | Japanese |
| Time zones | UTC+03:30 | UTC+09:00 |
| Calling code | +98 | +81 |
| Drives on the | right | left |
| Continent | Asia | Asia |
| ISO codes | IR / IRN | JP / JPN |

## Population density

Japan is 5.8 times more densely populated than Iran — 326 against 56 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 — Iran on the right, Japan on the left.
- Different currencies: the Iranian rial and the Japanese yen.

## Iran

The Lut Desert has recorded the highest land surface temperatures ever measured from orbit, around 80 °C. Iran is largely a high plateau ringed by mountains — the Zagros and the Alborz, where Damavand reaches 5,610 m, the highest volcano in Asia. The qanat, an underground irrigation tunnel, has been used here for around 3,000 years.

## 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 Iran bigger than Japan?

Iran is larger — 1,648,195 km² against 377,915 km².

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

Japan, with 123,366,734 against 92,417,681.

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

Iran is UTC+03:30 and Japan is UTC+09:00. Daylight saving shifts the gap during the year in places that observe it.

## Related pages

- [Iran](https://atoneplace.net/country/iran/)
- [Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country/japan/)
- [India vs Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-japan/)
- [India vs Iran](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-iran/)
- [China vs Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-japan/)
- [China vs Iran](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-iran/)
- [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/)

## 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]