China now emits more CO2 per person than Japan
Carbon dioxide from fossil fuels and cement, tonnes per person, 2005–2025. 2025 figures are preliminary.
- 1. China now builds more ships than everyone else combined
- 2. China makes more electricity than the US and EU combined
- 3. China installs more robots than everyone else combined
- 4. China is building half the world's new reactors
- 5. China switched on 80% of the world's new coal power
- 6. China's vehicle exports grew sevenfold in five years
- 7. Six of the world's ten busiest ports are in China
- 8. China completed six in ten of 2025's new skyscrapers
- 9. China has more metro track than the next six combined
- 10. China refines most of the minerals of the future
- 11. China's new housing starts have fallen 74% since 2019
- 12. China is building more power capacity than everyone else combined
- 13. China now emits more CO2 per person than Japan
CO2 per person in China in 2025, almost double the 4.5 t of 2005.
The first year China passed Japan, whose figure fell from 10.0 t to 7.8 t.
Germany's figure in 2025. China now sits in the rich world's range, above Germany and Britain, though the US is at 14.5 t.
the numbers & method
| Year | China (t) | Japan (t) | Germany (t) | United Kingdom (t) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 4.5 | 10.0 | 10.6 | 9.4 |
| 2006 | 5.0 | 9.9 | 10.8 | 9.3 |
| 2007 | 5.3 | 10.1 | 10.4 | 9.1 |
| 2008 | 5.7 | 9.6 | 10.5 | 8.8 |
| 2009 | 5.9 | 9.0 | 9.8 | 7.9 |
| 2010 | 6.4 | 9.4 | 10.3 | 8.1 |
| 2011 | 7.1 | 9.8 | 10.0 | 7.4 |
| 2012 | 7.2 | 10.2 | 10.1 | 7.6 |
| 2013 | 7.3 | 10.3 | 10.3 | 7.4 |
| 2014 | 7.2 | 9.9 | 9.8 | 6.8 |
| 2015 | 7.1 | 9.6 | 9.7 | 6.5 |
| 2016 | 7.0 | 9.4 | 9.7 | 6.1 |
| 2017 | 7.2 | 9.3 | 9.5 | 5.8 |
| 2018 | 7.4 | 9.0 | 9.1 | 5.7 |
| 2019 | 7.5 | 8.7 | 8.5 | 5.4 |
| 2020 | 7.6 | 8.2 | 7.7 | 4.8 |
| 2021 | 7.9 | 8.4 | 8.1 | 5.1 |
| 2022 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 8.0 | 4.6 |
| 2023 | 8.7 | 7.9 | 7.0 | 4.5 |
| 2024 | 8.7 | 7.8 | 6.8 | 4.6 |
| 2025 | 8.8 | 7.8 | 6.8 | 4.6 |
Claim types Fact · Interpretation
Global Carbon Budget fossil CO2 emissions by country, edition 2026v11 (Andrew & Peters, CICERO, for the Global Carbon Project; Zenodo DOI 10.5281/zenodo.23667912, published 26 Oct 2026), file GCB2026v11_MtCO2_flat.csv, column 'Per Capita' (tonnes CO2 per person; territorial emissions from fossil fuels and cement, GCP population), read from the publisher's Zenodo deposit through the progrss data vault. The latest year (2025) is the dataset's initial release for that year, labelled preliminary here, as is usual Global Carbon Budget practice. Tonnes per person, China vs Japan: 2005 4.51 vs 10.04; 2021 7.93 vs 8.41; 2022 8.21 vs 8.22; 2023 8.65 vs 7.93 (first year above); 2024 8.74 vs 7.84; 2025 8.77 vs 7.80. China passed the UK in 2014 and Germany in 2022; 2025: Germany 6.82, UK 4.60, US 14.50. Values rounded to two decimals. 'Rich world's range' is a progrss interpretation. Licence: CC BY 4.0; cite Global Carbon Budget (Friedlingstein et al.).
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