Current account balance in Japan
Japan: Current account balance was 4.9% in 2025. ▲ Rising
Current account balance in Japan, 1996–2025
Source: Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF). Measured in % of GDP.
Analysis
Japan recorded 4.9% for current account balance in 2025. That is the highest value across all 30 years on record.
That represents a change of up 5.3% on the previous year and up 61.6% over ten years.
Over the whole period, current account balance in Japan peaked at 4.9% in 2025 and was at its lowest, 0.7%, in 2014.
Japan ranks 39th of 200 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 30 years of available data.
Current account balance in Japan, year by year
| Year | % of GDP | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 1.4% | — |
| 1997 | 2.1% | +51.7% |
| 1998 | 2.8% | +32.6% |
| 1999 | 2.4% | -11.9% |
| 2000 | 2.6% | +6.5% |
| 2001 | 1.9% | -25.1% |
| 2002 | 2.6% | +32.0% |
| 2003 | 3.0% | +18.9% |
| 2004 | 3.7% | +20.8% |
| 2005 | 3.5% | -5.3% |
| 2006 | 3.8% | +7.7% |
| 2007 | 4.6% | +21.8% |
| 2008 | 2.8% | -39.8% |
| 2009 | 2.7% | -0.9% |
| 2010 | 3.8% | +39.2% |
| 2011 | 2.1% | -45.7% |
| 2012 | 0.9% | -54.0% |
| 2013 | 0.9% | -7.3% |
| 2014 | 0.7% | -17.1% |
| 2015 | 3.0% | +312.8% |
| 2016 | 3.9% | +28.1% |
| 2017 | 4.0% | +4.6% |
| 2018 | 3.4% | -14.7% |
| 2019 | 3.4% | -2.1% |
| 2020 | 2.9% | -14.1% |
| 2021 | 3.8% | +30.1% |
| 2022 | 2.0% | -46.1% |
| 2023 | 3.6% | +78.1% |
| 2024 | 4.6% | +28.0% |
| 2025 | 4.9% | +5.3% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 2.2% | 1.4% | 2.8% | 4 |
| 2000s | 3.1% | 1.9% | 4.6% | 10 |
| 2010s | 2.6% | 0.7% | 4.0% | 10 |
| 2020s | 3.6% | 2.0% | 4.9% | 6 |
Countries ranked near Japan
- 36 Luxembourg 5.2% compare
- 37 Aruba 5.2% compare
- 38 Sao Tome and Principe 5.0% compare
- 40 Bahrain 4.8% compare
- 41 Nigeria 4.8% compare
- 42 Trinidad and Tobago 4.8% compare
More economy & growth data for Japan
- Africa's Development Dynamics (AfDD) Table 04 - Annual real GDP 1.03 Percent per annum (2029)
- Africa's Development Dynamics (AfDD) Table 02 - Annual real GDP 0.4463 Percent per annum (2029)
- Manufacturing, value added (current US$), per unit of GDP 0.1882 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Manufacturing, value added (current US$), per capita 6,360 current US$ per person (2024)
- Manufacturing, value added (current LCU), per unit of GDP 28.48 current LCU per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Manufacturing, value added (current LCU), per capita 962,654 current LCU per person (2024)
- Manufacturing, value added (constant 2015 US$), per unit of GDP 0.2233 constant 2015 US$ per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Manufacturing, value added (constant 2015 US$), per capita 7,546 constant 2015 US$ per person (2024)
- Manufacturing, value added (constant LCU), per capita 895,261 constant LCU per person (2024)
- Industry (including construction), value added (current US$), annual -7.46 % change on previous year (2024)
Frequently asked questions
- What is current account balance in Japan?
- Current account balance in Japan was 4.9% in 2025, according to Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- What is the highest current account balance recorded in Japan?
- The highest recorded value was 4.9% in 2025.
- What is the lowest current account balance recorded in Japan?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.7% in 2014.
- How does Japan rank for current account balance?
- Japan ranks 39th out of 200 countries with data for 2025.
- Is current account balance rising or falling in Japan?
- Over the last ten years it is up 61.6%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Japan data come from?
- The figures come from Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF), published as part of Current account balance (% of GDP). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 30 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Balance of current transactions (transactions in goods and services, earned income and transfer income) between residents and non-residents. The term current account balance is used in the external accounts and is expressed from the perspective of resident units. The term current external balance is used in the national accounts and is expressed from the perspective of the non-resident units, and therefore with the opposite sign. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the total income earned through the production of goods and services in an economic territory during an accounting period.