Sovereign and dependent territory rows of the World Bank “Air transport, passengers carried” indicator (top 30 by most recent year). Values in millions of passengers, rounded to two decimals. Aggregates (region.id === “NA”) excluded. Counts are passengers carried by air carriers registered in each country (domestic + international), not airport throughput. Original source: ICAO.
Chart ready. Press play to start.
How to use this chart
Play/Pause starts and stops the year-by-year animation, the year slider jumps to any year, and the speed selector (0.5×, 1×, 2×) changes playback speed. Each year shows the top 12 entries out of the 30 held in the dataset.
About this ranking
About this metric. “Air Transport Passengers by Country (Time Series)” reformats data published by the World Bank (indicator code IS.AIR.PSGR, original source ICAO). Values are expressed in million passengers.
What to watch. Jump to 2020 and watch every bar shrink at once — the pandemic cut world air travel by roughly 60% in a single year. The other oddity worth spotting is Ireland in third place: every Ryanair passenger across Europe is counted there.
Caveats. The statistic counts passengers carried by air carriers registered in each country, not airport throughput. Ireland ranks high because Ryanair, Europe’s largest low-cost carrier, is registered there. Countries hosting mega-carriers are amplified accordingly.
Trends in the data
The 2020 collapse is steeper than anything else in this table. The 30-country total fell from 3,870 million in 2019 to 1,590 million in 2020, a drop of 59%. The United States went from 926.74 million to 369.50 million, down 60%; Japan from 130.23 to 51.13 million, down 61%. Six out of every ten air journeys disappearing in a single year happens exactly once in the 54 years covered here. Recovery was fast: the United States reached 941.56 million in 2023, above its 2019 level.
Over the full period the standout is Ireland, up from 1.48 million in 1970 to 192.53 million in 2023 — 130.09×, and from 17th to 3rd. A country of about five million people sits behind only the United States and China because this statistic counts passengers carried by airlines registered in that country. Ireland is the home registration of a low-cost carrier operating across Europe, and the whole network is booked to Ireland. This is neither airport traffic nor visitor numbers, a point worth repeating.
The same mechanism lifted Türkiye from 1.04 million to 125.94 million, 121.10×, moving it from 19th to 5th; India from 2.67 to 180.42 million, 67.57×, from 14th to 4th; and Indonesia from 20th to 9th. Countries that grew a large home carrier rise in this table. Falling the other way are Switzerland (9th → 30th), Colombia (11th → 26th), the Netherlands (13th → 28th), France (5th → 18th), the Philippines (15th → 27th) and Australia (6th → 17th).
The United States has led for all 54 years, rising from 163.45 million in 1970 to 941.56 million in 2023, a 5.76× increase. The gap to second place, however, has closed sharply. In 1970 the runner-up was Japan at 16.32 million, one tenth of the US figure; in 2023 it is China at 619.22 million, or 66%. Japan carried 120.31 million in 2023 and has not yet returned to its 2019 level of 130.23 million. A mature market moving sideways and emerging markets climbing fast sit side by side in the same table.
Trivia quiz
Which UN specialized agency sets the rules of international civil aviation?
ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization), founded under the 1944 Chicago Convention and headquartered in Montreal. (Source)
What do we call airlines that cut fares through simplified service and single-type fleets?
Low-cost carriers (LCCs). Southwest Airlines pioneered the model; Ryanair and AirAsia are flagship examples. (Source)
Which airport has been the world's busiest by passengers for most years since 1998?
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Delta Air Lines' mega-hub in Georgia, USA. (Source)
Source
World Bank — Air transport, passengers carried (IS.AIR.PSGR)