In 2020, Japan is experiencing its deepest recession of the post-war era, after 71 months continuous of growth. The economic activity in Japan has been adversely impacted in the first half of 2020 due lower external demand arising out of ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
ICT, travel and tourism, transport, insurance and finance, electronics, machinery, automobiles, gold and textiles are major industries of Japan. In 2017, Agriculture industry contributed 1.1% to GDP of Japan. Manufacturing had a share of 30.1% while services industry had a share of 68.70% of GDP in 2017.
In 2018, Services industry exports was valued at USD 194 billion for Japan. Electronics export accounted for USD 117 billion, machinery for USD 201 billion, vehicles for USD 174 billion, chemicals for USD 102 billion, metals for USD 60 billion, minerals for USD 14.5 billion, stone for USD 20 billion, textiles for USD 10.6 billion and agriculture for USD 14.2 billion in 2017.
Japan, formally known as Nippon-koku which literally translates to State of Japan, is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean sun-origin, which is why the country is sometimes referred to as the land of the rising sun.
Japan had estimated population of 125.751 million in the year 2020 which is expected to be 123.61 million by 2024, growing at a CAGR of 0.42%.
Japan’s real gross domestic product (GDP) was JPY 5,35,302.29 billion in 2019 and due to COVID-19 outbreak it is estimated to shrink by 5.163% to be around JPY 5,07,664.63 billion in 2020.
Japan’s unemployment rate was 2.358% of total labor force in 2019. Due to slowdown in global economic activity due to COVID-19 pandemic the unemployment is expected to increase by 21.40% and reach 3% in 2020. Unemployment is further estimated to decrease in 2021 by 32.33% and reach 2.267% of total labor force in Japan.
Japan's per capita GDP was estimated at USD 41021.25 in 2019 whereas purchasing power parity (PPP) based per capita GDP was estimated to be at USD 45564.98.
The output gap for Japan in 2019 was negative at 0.161% of the potential GDP.
In 2019, Japanese government’s revenue was estimated at JPY 189764.31 billion whereas the expenditure was estimated at JPY 205629.37 billion. This is expected to result in Japanese government’s net lending / borrowing negative at JPY 15865.06 billion in 2019 indicating that enough financial resources were not made available by the government to boost economic growth.
The current account balance for Japan is estimated at USD 180.401 billion for the year 2019 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 2.80% and reach USD 237.95 by 2024. This positive current account balance indicates the Japan will remain net lender to rest of the world till 2024.
In World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking Japan was ranked 29 out of 190 countries in 2019. Japan’s ease of doing business ranking has improved from 39th position in 2018.
*If Applicable.