---
title: "Japan vs New Zealand — area, population, currency"
description: "Japan is 377,915 km² with 123,366,734 people; New Zealand is 268,838 km² with 5,324,700. Area, density, currency, languages and time zones side by side."
url: https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-new-zealand/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Japan vs New Zealand

**Japan vs New Zealand: Japan is larger; Japan has more people**

377,915 km² vs 268,838 km² · 123,366,734 vs 5,324,700

Japan is 1.4 times larger than New Zealand — 377,915 against 268,838 km². Japan is 23 times more populous than New Zealand — 123,366,734 against 5,324,700 people.

## Side by side

|  | Japan | New Zealand |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capital | Tokyo | Wellington |
| Area | 377,915 km² | 268,838 km² |
| Population | 123,366,734 (2025) | 5,324,700 (2025) |
| Density | 326.4 /km² | 19.8 /km² |
| Currency | Japanese yen (JPY) | New Zealand dollar (NZD) |
| Official languages | Japanese | English, Māori, New Zealand Sign Language |
| Time zones | UTC+09:00 | UTC+12:00, UTC+12:45 |
| Calling code | +81 | +64 |
| Drives on the | left | left |
| Continent | Asia | Oceania |
| ISO codes | JP / JPN | NZ / NZL |

## Population density

Japan is 16 times more densely populated than New Zealand — 326 against 20 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

- Different currencies: the Japanese yen and the New Zealand dollar.
- New Zealand spans 2 time zones, so "local time" there is not a single answer.
- Different continents — Asia and Oceania.

## 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.

## New Zealand

Two main islands and around 600 smaller ones, roughly 1,600 km long. New Zealand broke away from Gondwana about 80 million years ago and had no land mammals except bats until people arrived, which is why so many of its birds are flightless. The Southern Alps run most of the South Island and reach 3,724 m at Aoraki / Mount Cook.

> 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 Japan bigger than New Zealand?

Japan is larger — 377,915 km² against 268,838 km².

### Which has more people, Japan or New Zealand?

Japan, with 123,366,734 against 5,324,700.

### What is the time difference between Japan and New Zealand?

Japan is UTC+09:00 and New Zealand is UTC+12:00, UTC+12:45. Daylight saving shifts the gap during the year in places that observe it.

## Related pages

- [Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country/japan/)
- [New Zealand](https://atoneplace.net/country/new-zealand/)
- [India vs Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-japan/)
- [India vs New Zealand](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-new-zealand/)
- [China vs Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-japan/)
- [China vs New Zealand](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-new-zealand/)
- [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 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]