The Japanese passport is one of the strongest in the world, but only around 17% of the population holds one, considerably lower than the figure in many Western countries, government data shows.
According to numbers the Foreign Ministry released last week, around 3.7 million passports were issued domestically in 2024, a 8.8% increase from the year before but down 15.2% from 2019.
The total number of valid passports in the country was around 20.77 million, amounting to around 16.8% of the total population. This is considerably low compared to other countries such as the U.S. and U.K., where those who have passports stands at around 50% and 85% respectively.
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