Japan vs United States of America: Primary energy from solar

Japan
110.79 terawatt-hours
in 2025
United States of America
392.75 terawatt-hours
in 2025
Japan rank
4th
United States of America rank
2nd

Primary energy from solar over time

  • Japan
  • United States of America
0100200300400196519952025

How they compare

United States of America currently reports 392.75 terawatt-hours against 110.79 terawatt-hours in Japan, a difference of 281.96 terawatt-hours.

That makes United States of America's figure about 3.5 times Japan's.

The two have swapped places 2 times across 61 shared years of data; in 1965 it was United States of America ahead.

Japan ranks 4th and United States of America ranks 2nd of 80 countries.

Across the 7 decades both report, Japan averaged higher in 1 and United States of America in 4.

Head to head by decade

Decade Japan United States of America 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 0.0306 terawatt-hours 0.0306 terawatt-hours United States of America
1990s 0.0616 terawatt-hours 0.4866 terawatt-hours 0.4251 terawatt-hours United States of America
2000s 1.53 terawatt-hours 0.9381 terawatt-hours 0.5961 terawatt-hours Japan
2010s 31.31 terawatt-hours 43.72 terawatt-hours 12.41 terawatt-hours United States of America
2020s 92.47 terawatt-hours 241.03 terawatt-hours 148.56 terawatt-hours United States of America

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher primary energy from solar, Japan or United States of America?
United States of America, at 392.75 terawatt-hours against 110.79 terawatt-hours in Japan as of 2025.
What is the difference in primary energy from solar between Japan and United States of America?
281.96 terawatt-hours, with United States of America ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Japan and United States of America?
61 years are reported by both, from 1965 to 2025.
How do Japan and United States of America rank globally for primary energy from solar?
Japan ranks 4th and United States of America ranks 2nd of 80 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

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Japan vs United States of America: Primary energy from solar. Statizoid, drawing on Energy Institute - Statistical Review of World Energy (2026); Smil (2017) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Retrieved 22 August 2026, from https://energy.statizoid.com/compare/primary-energy-consumption-from-solar/japan/united-states/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://energy.statizoid.com/compare/primary-energy-consumption-from-solar/japan/united-states/">Japan vs United States of America: Primary energy from solar</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Primary energy from solar
Unit
terawatt-hours
Source
Energy Institute - Statistical Review of World Energy (2026); Smil (2017) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
82 places, 4,686 data points, 1965–2025
Last refreshed

Measured in terawatt-hours of total energy supply.