Nigeria now eats more rice than Japan
Milled rice consumed, million tonnes, market years 2012/13 to 2025/26; 2025/26 is a USDA estimate.
- 1. By 2100, more than 1 in 3 people will be African
- 2. Nearly half the world's under-25s will be African by 2100
- 3. DR Congo is projected to outgrow the US by 2100
- 4. Kinshasa will soon be bigger than Paris and London combined
- 5. Two-thirds of the world's mobile money moves in Africa
- 6. Volcanic heat makes nearly 45% of the power Kenya generates
- 7. Africa's solar imports more than doubled since early 2024
- 8. DR Congo mines three-quarters of the world's cobalt
- 9. Nearly two in three people in Africa are still offline
- 10. Africa formally recycles less than 1% of its e-waste
- 11. Ethiopia added over a third of Africa's new renewable power
- 12. DR Congo now has more children than Brazil
- 13. Nigeria's cities now hold more people than Japan's
- 14. Sudan now has the world's most people displaced at home
- 15. Nigeria now has almost 25 million more people than Brazil
- 16. Six of the ten fastest-growing big cities are African
- 17. Africa now has more hungry people than Asia
- 18. Six in ten child deaths now happen in sub-Saharan Africa
- 19. Rwanda spread electricity faster than any country since 2014
- 20. Nigeria now eats more rice than Japan
Rice Nigeria is estimated to eat in 2025/26, up 29% from 6.6 Mt in 2015/16.
The first year Nigeria ate more than Japan: 8.30 vs 8.17 Mt. Japan's use is down 15% since 2015/16.
Share of Nigeria's rice that is imported (2.65 Mt), so a fast-growing African market now weighs on world rice trade.
the numbers & method
| Year | Nigeria (Mt) | Japan (Mt) | Brazil (Mt) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 6.0 | 8.5 | 7.9 |
| 2013 | 6.2 | 8.6 | 7.9 |
| 2014 | 6.4 | 8.8 | 7.9 |
| 2015 | 6.6 | 8.8 | 7.9 |
| 2016 | 6.8 | 8.7 | 7.9 |
| 2017 | 7.0 | 8.4 | 7.7 |
| 2018 | 7.2 | 8.2 | 7.4 |
| 2019 | 7.4 | 8.0 | 7.4 |
| 2020 | 7.5 | 8.0 | 7.4 |
| 2021 | 7.6 | 8.2 | 7.2 |
| 2022 | 7.8 | 8.3 | 7.1 |
| 2023 | 8.0 | 8.2 | 7.2 |
| 2024 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 7.4 |
| 2025 | 8.5 | 7.5 | 7.4 |
Claim types Estimate · Interpretation
USDA FAS PSD, commodity 0422110 'Rice, Milled', attribute 'Domestic Consumption' (thousand metric tonnes), read from the USDA FAS PSD API (api.fas.usda.gov/api/psd) through the progrss data vault; data as of October 2026 (Nigeria's 2012/13–2023/24 rows last revised August 2025, Brazil's 2012/13–2016/17 rows earlier). Chart values are USDA's figures in million tonnes; a year on the chart is the market year that starts then (2025 = 2025/26). Market years follow each country's local season. 2025/26 is a USDA estimate and 2024/25 the latest firm year; both are revised monthly. Nigeria vs Japan (thousand tonnes): 2023/24 8,000 vs 8,168; 2024/25 8,300 vs 8,170 (first year above); 2025/26 8,500 vs 7,461. Japan's 2025/26 estimate is a sharp drop from 2024/25 (−8.7%); USDA forecasts 7,954 for Japan and 8,800 for Nigeria in 2026/27 (forecast, not charted), so Nigeria stays ahead either way. USDA's Nigeria series moves in round steps of 100–300 thousand tonnes, a sign it is modelled rather than surveyed. Nigeria passed Brazil in 2019/20. In 2025/26 Nigeria ranks ninth among all PSD countries (eleventh in 2015/16) and first outside Asia (Brazil 7,350, US 5,217; the EU, counted as one, under 4,000). Imports share: 2,650 imported ÷ 8,500 consumed = 31% (progrss calculation; Nigeria's milled production is estimated at 5,904). Percent changes are progrss calculations. Licence: US government work, credit USDA. The chart starts in 2012/13: USDA's Nigeria series jumps 17% from 2010/11 to 2011/12, which looks like a rebasing.
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