Air Transport Passengers Carried by Country 2026: Latest ICAO Ranking
Latest global airline passenger ranking by carrier country
The United States had the world's highest air transport passenger count in the latest globally comparable ICAO series, with 941.6 million passengers in 2023, followed by China with 619.2 million. The indicator assigns passenger traffic to the country where the airline is registered, not to the country where the airport is located.
World Bank currently publishes this series through 2023 and identifies ICAO Civil Aviation Statistics of the World and ICAO staff estimates as the underlying source. For comparability, every country and economy in this ranking uses the same 2023 reference year.
Coverage: the 50 highest confirmed country or economy observations for 2023. Unit: passengers carried. Higher values rank higher. All 50 entries use published observations from the ICAO/WDI series; no forecasts or modeled 2026 values are used.
United States, based on passenger traffic attributed to U.S.-registered commercial air carriers in 2023.
Poland ranks 50th among the entries included here. This is the lower boundary of the Top 50, not a global minimum.
Countries and economies with a confirmed 2023 observation; regional and income aggregates are excluded.
All 50 rows use published ICAO/WDI observations. No forecast or modeled projection is included.
What air transport passengers carried measures
This indicator measures passenger traffic performed by commercial air carriers registered in each country. It does not measure the number of passengers using airports located in that country, and it does not show how many residents flew during the year.
That distinction matters because airline registration and airport location can produce very different geographic patterns. An airline registered in one country may carry passengers on routes that begin and end elsewhere, while passengers using a country's airports may be transported by foreign-registered carriers.
Under the ICAO statistical concept used by World Bank, a passenger is counted once on a particular flight number rather than once for every individual flight stage. The methodology also permits separate domestic and international counting when the same passenger travels through both types of stage on the same flight.
Ireland illustrates why the definition matters. It ranks third at 192.5 million passengers. Because traffic is assigned to the country of airline registration, that figure should not be interpreted as passenger throughput at Irish airports.
Top 10 countries by air transport passengers carried
The United States and China dominate the ranking. The United States leads China by about 322.3 million passengers, while China exceeds third-ranked Ireland by roughly 426.7 million. India follows Ireland in fourth place, and positions five through ten range from 125.9 million to 95.4 million passengers.
Top 10 confirmed country and economy observations, 2023
| Rank | Entity | Passengers | Source / note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 941.6M | North America; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 2 | China | 619.2M | East Asia & Pacific; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 3 | Ireland | 192.5M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 4 | India | 180.4M | South Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 5 | Turkiye | 125.9M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 6 | Japan | 120.3M | East Asia & Pacific; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 7 | United Kingdom | 118.9M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 8 | Russian Federation | 98.9M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 9 | Indonesia | 97.0M | East Asia & Pacific; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 10 | Brazil | 95.4M | Latin America & Caribbean; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
Ranking is based on the underlying 2023 passenger count in descending order. Display values are rounded only after rank is determined.
Top 20 airline passenger counts by carrier country
The distribution is highly concentrated at the top. The United States exceeds 900 million passengers and China exceeds 600 million, while every country from third place downward remains below 200 million.
Methodology
Metric and unit
The ranking uses World Bank indicator IS.AIR.PSGR, air transport passengers carried. The unit is the number of passengers carried by commercial air carriers registered in each country.
Year and ranking direction
Every entry uses a 2023 observation. Countries are ranked in descending order, so the largest passenger count receives rank 1.
Primary source
The numeric series is distributed through World Bank World Development Indicators and sourced from ICAO Civil Aviation Statistics of the World and ICAO staff estimates.
Coverage
The table includes the 50 highest country or economy observations with a 2023 value. World, regional, income and other aggregate series are excluded.
Missing observations
A country without a 2023 observation is not assigned an older value or a projection. This keeps the ranking on a common reference year.
ICAO estimation
ICAO documentation allows missing carrier traffic to be estimated using available historical reporting or published flight schedules. The public WDI series does not identify those estimates separately for individual rows.
Rounding
Rank is calculated from the underlying passenger count, including published decimal precision where present. Display values are converted to millions by dividing by 1,000,000 and rounded only for presentation.
What the metric does not measure
The indicator does not measure airport passenger throughput, unique travelers, passenger-kilometres, tourism arrivals, flights, seats, airline revenue or the number of residents who travel by air.
The main limitation is geographic attribution. Passenger traffic is assigned to the country of airline registration, so the ranking can differ substantially from airport-based aviation rankings. A high position should therefore be interpreted as a large volume of traffic attributed to registered commercial carriers, not as evidence that the same number of passengers passed through airports in that country.
Main ranking: Top 50 countries and economies
Use the controls to search the ranking, filter by region or data status, change the display order, or focus on the Top 10 or Top 20.
Top 50 confirmed 2023 observations by air transport passengers carried
| Rank | Entity | Passengers | Source / note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 941.6M | North America; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 2 | China | 619.2M | East Asia & Pacific; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 3 | Ireland | 192.5M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 4 | India | 180.4M | South Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 5 | Turkiye | 125.9M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 6 | Japan | 120.3M | East Asia & Pacific; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 7 | United Kingdom | 118.9M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 8 | Russian Federation | 98.9M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 9 | Indonesia | 97.0M | East Asia & Pacific; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 10 | Brazil | 95.4M | Latin America & Caribbean; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 11 | Spain | 94.1M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 12 | United Arab Emirates | 91.1M | Middle East & North Africa; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 13 | Canada | 88.6M | North America; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 14 | Germany | 80.2M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 15 | Mexico | 78.8M | Latin America & Caribbean; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 16 | Korea, Rep. | 76.3M | East Asia & Pacific; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 17 | Australia | 69.0M | East Asia & Pacific; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 18 | France | 64.6M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 19 | Hungary | 55.6M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 20 | Viet Nam | 55.1M | East Asia & Pacific; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 21 | Thailand | 51.9M | East Asia & Pacific; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 22 | Saudi Arabia | 48.0M | Middle East & North Africa; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 23 | Singapore | 47.5M | East Asia & Pacific; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 24 | Malaysia | 46.7M | East Asia & Pacific; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 25 | Austria | 46.0M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 26 | Colombia | 42.4M | Latin America & Caribbean; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 27 | Philippines | 41.5M | East Asia & Pacific; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 28 | Netherlands | 41.4M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 29 | Qatar | 37.7M | Middle East & North Africa; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 30 | Switzerland | 27.7M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 31 | Hong Kong SAR, China | 25.7M | East Asia & Pacific; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 32 | Chile | 21.3M | Latin America & Caribbean; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 33 | Argentina | 21.1M | Latin America & Caribbean; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 34 | Italy | 20.3M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 35 | Sweden | 19.6M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 36 | Greece | 19.1M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 37 | Portugal | 18.3M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 38 | Iran, Islamic Rep. | 18.1M | Middle East & North Africa; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 39 | Peru | 17.7M | Latin America & Caribbean; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 40 | Egypt, Arab Rep. | 16.7M | Middle East & North Africa; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 41 | Panama | 15.8M | Latin America & Caribbean; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 42 | South Africa | 15.5M | Sub-Saharan Africa; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 43 | Ethiopia | 15.3M | Sub-Saharan Africa; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 44 | New Zealand | 15.0M | East Asia & Pacific; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 45 | Kazakhstan | 11.9M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 46 | Belgium | 11.4M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 47 | Finland | 10.8M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 48 | Kuwait | 9.50M | Middle East & North Africa; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 49 | Morocco | 9.35M | Middle East & North Africa; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
| 50 | Poland | 8.78M | Europe & Central Asia; ICAO/WDI 2023; published value. |
Primary data source: World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator IS.AIR.PSGR, sourced from ICAO Civil Aviation Statistics of the World and ICAO staff estimates. All entries use 2023 observations.
Insights from the 2023 ranking
Key insight
The ranking has a steep upper tail. The United States records about 1.5 times China's passenger count, while China records more than three times the figure for third-ranked Ireland.
Notable pattern
Ireland ranks third at 192.5 million passengers, slightly ahead of India at 180.4 million. Because the indicator assigns traffic to the country of airline registration, Ireland's position should not be read as a ranking of passengers using Irish airports.
Regional concentration
Using the regional classifications applied in this table, Europe & Central Asia accounts for 19 of the Top 50 entries and East Asia & Pacific for 12. Together they represent 31 of the 50 ranked economies.
Carrier-country effect
Hungary ranks 19th at 55.6 million passengers. As elsewhere in the table, this figure represents passenger traffic attributed to registered carriers rather than passengers handled by Hungarian airports.
How to interpret the ranking
This ranking is most useful for comparing the scale of passenger traffic attributed to commercial air carriers registered in different countries. It provides a consistent international measure of carrier activity rather than airport activity.
A high rank does not mean that the same number of passengers passed through airports in that country. Airlines can operate extensive international networks, and passengers using a country's airports can also travel on carriers registered elsewhere.
The 2026 label refers to the publication snapshot. The ranking itself uses 2023 observations because that is the latest common year used throughout the table. No attempt is made to estimate passenger totals for 2024, 2025 or 2026.
FAQ
Which country ranks first for air transport passengers carried?
The United States ranks first among the 2023 observations in this table, with 941.6 million passengers carried by commercial air carriers attributed to the United States.
Is this a ranking of the world's busiest airports?
No. The indicator is based on the registration country of the reporting commercial air carrier. It does not rank airports or count all passengers passing through airports located in each country.
Why does Ireland rank third?
Ireland records 192.5 million passengers in the 2023 ICAO/WDI series. Because the indicator assigns traffic to the airline's registration country, the figure should not be interpreted as passenger throughput at Irish airports.
Are these 2026 passenger figures?
No. This is a 2026 snapshot using 2023 observations throughout the ranking. The page does not create estimates for later years.
How is a passenger counted?
The statistical concept counts a passenger once on a particular flight number rather than once for every individual flight stage. A passenger traveling through both domestic and international stages of the same flight can be represented in both categories under the source methodology.
Can ICAO estimate missing carrier traffic?
Yes. ICAO methodology allows estimates when carrier reporting is incomplete, using available historical information or published flight schedules. The public WDI series does not separately identify those estimates for each individual country row.
Why are some countries not included?
This table is limited to the 50 highest confirmed 2023 country or economy observations. Countries without a 2023 observation are not filled with older data, and countries below the 50th-highest value fall outside the published Top 50.
Does a higher rank mean residents of that country fly more often?
No. The indicator does not measure unique travelers or air travel per resident. It measures passenger traffic attributed to commercial air carriers registered in the country.
Sources
World Bank Data — Air transport, passengers carried
Primary numeric series for the country values and 2023 reference year. World Bank identifies ICAO Civil Aviation Statistics of the World and ICAO staff estimates as the underlying source.
World Bank WDI Metadata — IS.AIR.PSGR
Methodological documentation for the indicator definition, passenger-counting concept, carrier-country attribution, reporting limitations and source notes.
https://databank.worldbank.org/metadataglossary/world-development-indicators/series/IS.AIR.PSGR
ICAO Data+
Official ICAO aviation statistics environment supporting commercial air carrier traffic data and related aviation statistics.
