Japan had an estimated population of 126,476,461 as of the middle of 2020, according to UN data. Based on Worldometer elaboration of the latest UN data, the country had a population of 126,226,271 in 2021, with 91.8% living in urban areas, mainly in Tokyo, Yokohama and Osaka. The median age of the population was 48.4 years.


The average annual revenue per paying user was $1,666 in 2019, according to the PPRO APAC Report. Most cross-border e-commerce purchases by Japanese were of products from China, the United States and South Korea.

Average annual revenue per paying user
$160.2 billion
Total transaction value in 2019
$178 billion
Total transaction value in 2020

Payment preferences

Most Japanese shoppers prefer to pay by card (68%), followed by cash, bank transfers, e-wallets, and other payment methods. For cashless payments, the biggest players were local schemes (52%) followed by Visa and Mastercard, according to the 2020 PPRO APAC Report.


According to IMF data, Japan had a gross domestic product of $5.08 trillion in 2019, which declined to $4.91 trillion in 2020 due to the pandemic. As the economy continues to recover, the GDP is expected to expand to about $5.1 trillion in 2021.

Internet & mobile phone trends

According to Statista, 99% of the population aged 20 to 29 had internet access in 2019, while only 58% of those aged 50 years and above went online regularly. According to Datareportal, there were 1117.4 million internet users in January 2021, with an internet penetration rate of 93%. Meanwhile, smartphone penetration stood at 55% by the end of 2019, according to the PPRO APAC Report.


According to data compiled by PPRO APAC, 98% of Japanese had bank accounts in 2020, with 68% of them credit card holders.

Banked population
Cards ownership

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