China vs Japan: Primary energy from solar
China
1,173 terawatt-hours
in 2025
Japan
110.79 terawatt-hours
in 2025
China rank
1st
Japan rank
4th
Primary energy from solar over time
- China
- Japan
How they compare
China currently reports 1,173 terawatt-hours against 110.79 terawatt-hours in Japan, a difference of 1,062 terawatt-hours.
That makes China's figure about 10.6 times Japan's.
The two have swapped places 3 times across 61 shared years of data; in 1965 it was Japan ahead.
China ranks 1st and Japan ranks 4th of 77 countries.
Across the 7 decades both report, China averaged higher in 2 and Japan in 2.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | China | Japan | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 0 terawatt-hours | 0 terawatt-hours | 0 terawatt-hours | — |
| 1970s | 0 terawatt-hours | 0 terawatt-hours | 0 terawatt-hours | — |
| 1980s | 0 terawatt-hours | 0 terawatt-hours | 0 terawatt-hours | — |
| 1990s | 0.0074 terawatt-hours | 0.0616 terawatt-hours | 0.0542 terawatt-hours | Japan |
| 2000s | 0.0965 terawatt-hours | 1.53 terawatt-hours | 1.44 terawatt-hours | Japan |
| 2010s | 66.35 terawatt-hours | 31.31 terawatt-hours | 35.04 terawatt-hours | China |
| 2020s | 601.97 terawatt-hours | 92.47 terawatt-hours | 509.49 terawatt-hours | China |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher primary energy from solar, China or Japan?
- China, at 1,173 terawatt-hours against 110.79 terawatt-hours in Japan as of 2025.
- What is the difference in primary energy from solar between China and Japan?
- 1,062 terawatt-hours, with China ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for China and Japan?
- 61 years are reported by both, from 1965 to 2025.
- How do China and Japan rank globally for primary energy from solar?
- China ranks 1st and Japan ranks 4th of 77 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- Energy Institute - Statistical Review of World Energy (2026); Smil (2017) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Primary energy from solar. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Measured in terawatt-hours of total energy supply.