Japan Environment - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Environment - current issues

air pollution from power plant emissions results in acid rain; acidification of lakes and reservoirs degrading water quality and threatening aquatic life; Japan is one of the largest consumers of fish and tropical timber, contributing to the depletion of these resources in Asia and elsewhere; following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan originally planned to phase out nuclear power, but it has now implemented a new policy of seeking to restart nuclear power plants that meet strict new safety standards; waste management is an ongoing issue; Japanese municipal facilities used to burn high volumes of trash, but air pollution issues forced the government to adopt an aggressive recycling policy

Environment - international agreements

party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 11.45 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 1,135.89 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 29.99 megatons (2020 est.)

Climate

varies from tropical in south to cool temperate in north

Land use

agricultural land: 12.5% (2018 est.)

arable land: 11.7% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 0.8% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 0% (2018 est.)

forest: 68.5% (2018 est.)

other: 19% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 92% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: -0.25% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

total population growth rate v. urban population growth rate, 2000-2030

Revenue from forest resources

forest revenues: 0.02% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

coal revenues: 0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Major infectious diseases

respiratory diseases: Covid-19 (see note) (2020)

note: clusters of cases of respiratory illness caused by a new coronavirus (COVID-19) in Japan; illness with this virus has ranged from mild to severe with fatalities reported; as of 9 December 2022, Japan has reported a total of 25,687,798 cases of COVID-19 or 20,310.33 cumulative cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population with a total of 51,062 cumulative deaths or a rate of 40.37 cumulative deaths per 100,000 population; as of 8 December 2022, 84.27% of the population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 43.981 million tons (2015 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 2,155,069 tons (2015 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 4.9% (2015 est.)

Major lakes (area sq km)

fresh water lake(s): Biwa-ko 688 sq km

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 15.41 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

industrial: 11.61 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

agricultural: 54.43 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

Total renewable water resources

430 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Japan on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Japan 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Japan 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.