---
title: "Japan vs Saudi Arabia — area, population, currency"
description: "Japan is 377,915 km² with 123,366,734 people; Saudi Arabia is 2,149,690 km² with 36,973,555. Area, density, currency, languages and time zones side by side."
url: https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-saudi-arabia/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Japan vs Saudi Arabia

**Japan vs Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia is larger; Japan has more people**

377,915 km² vs 2,149,690 km² · 123,366,734 vs 36,973,555

Saudi Arabia is 5.7 times larger than Japan — 2,149,690 against 377,915 km². Japan is 3.3 times more populous than Saudi Arabia — 123,366,734 against 36,973,555 people.

## Side by side

|  | Japan | Saudi Arabia |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capital | Tokyo | Riyadh |
| Area | 377,915 km² | 2,149,690 km² |
| Population | 123,366,734 (2025) | 36,973,555 (2025) |
| Density | 326.4 /km² | 17.2 /km² |
| Currency | Japanese yen (JPY) | Saudi riyal (SAR) |
| Official languages | Japanese | Arabic |
| Time zones | UTC+09:00 | UTC+03:00 |
| Calling code | +81 | +966 |
| Drives on the | left | right |
| Continent | Asia | Asia |
| ISO codes | JP / JPN | SA / SAU |

## Population density

Japan is 19 times more densely populated than Saudi Arabia — 326 against 17 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 — Japan on the left, Saudi Arabia on the right.
- Different currencies: the Japanese yen and the Saudi riyal.

## 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.

## Saudi Arabia

The Rub' al Khali, the Empty Quarter, is the largest continuous sand desert in the world at about 650,000 km² — bigger than France. Saudi Arabia has no permanent rivers or lakes at all, which is true of only a handful of countries. It holds roughly a sixth of the world's proven oil reserves.

> 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 Saudi Arabia?

Saudi Arabia is larger — 2,149,690 km² against 377,915 km².

### Which has more people, Japan or Saudi Arabia?

Japan, with 123,366,734 against 36,973,555.

### What is the time difference between Japan and Saudi Arabia?

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

## Related pages

- [Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country/japan/)
- [Saudi Arabia](https://atoneplace.net/country/saudi-arabia/)
- [India vs Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-japan/)
- [India vs Saudi Arabia](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-saudi-arabia/)
- [China vs Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-japan/)
- [China vs Saudi Arabia](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-saudi-arabia/)
- [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]