Top 100 Countries by Air Transport Passengers Carried, Latest Year
Airline Passengers Carried by Country in 2021
Air transport passengers carried measures how many passengers are flown by airlines registered in a country. It is a useful aviation and mobility indicator because it captures the scale of national carrier systems, but it is not the same as airport passenger throughput and it is not the same as tourist arrivals.
This distinction matters. Countries with very large domestic markets, such as the United States, China, India, Brazil, and Mexico, naturally rank high. But the metric also rewards airline hubs and registration centers, which is why places such as Ireland and the United Arab Emirates rank far above what population size alone would suggest. In other words, this ranking says as much about airline structure and network strategy as it does about sheer country size.
The ranking uses the World Bank World Development Indicators series for indicator IS.AIR.PSGR. For a complete cross-country Top 100 built on one consistent year, 2021 provides the clearest comparable snapshot. Using the same year from top to bottom avoids mixing later partial updates with older country values.
The sum covers all ranked countries with a 2021 observation in the World Bank indicator series.
The first ten countries account for well over two-thirds of the total, showing how concentrated carrier traffic remains.
By the twentieth place, most of the total covered by this ranking is already accounted for.
Most countries rebounded in 2021, but recovery speed remained uneven across Asia, Europe, and North America.
What stands out at the top of the ranking
The top of the table is highly concentrated. The United States and China alone account for almost half of the total covered by this ranking, while the Top 10 account for more than 71%. That shows how strongly global airline traffic is anchored by a small number of very large systems. After those giants, the list shifts toward mixed models: large domestic markets, international hub economies, and countries whose airline groups carry traffic far beyond their home population.
Ireland is the clearest outlier. Its position near the top has little to do with population size and much more to do with airline registration and the structure of European low-cost aviation. The United Arab Emirates and Türkiye show how geography and hub strategy can lift a country into the upper tier. Spain, Japan, and Brazil highlight different routes to a high rank, including tourism, island connectivity, and deep domestic demand.
United States
The standout leader thanks to a vast domestic market and the scale of U.S.-registered airline networks.
China
A second giant domestic aviation system, though still below its later post-pandemic expansion.
Russia
A large territory and strong domestic route dependence helped lift carrier passenger counts in 2021.
India
A huge domestic base with structural room for further growth as air travel penetration rises.
Ireland
The clearest outlier: airline registration and leasing structures matter here, not just local demand.
Türkiye
A hub geography between Europe, Asia and the Middle East supports strong carrier-based traffic.
Brazil
Continental scale and large internal demand keep Brazil in the global top tier.
Mexico
North American integration and a broad domestic network support a high passenger total.
Japan
A mature aviation market that remained softer in 2021 than some faster-recovering peers.
Spain
Tourism and island connectivity help Spain rank much higher than population alone would suggest.
Chart 1. Top 20 countries by air transport passengers carried
The first twenty rows already capture most of the total covered by this dataset. That is why aviation rankings can be misleading when read too quickly: beyond the very largest systems, the gaps between countries narrow much faster than the headline positions suggest.
Values show passengers carried by airlines registered in each country in 2021. Labels are shown in millions for readability, while the table below provides full counts and year-over-year change versus 2020.
Country ranking table and filters
Use the table below to search countries, sort the ranking, and switch between passenger totals and each country’s share of the ranked-country total.
| Rank | Country | Passengers carried | YoY vs 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 666,153,000 29.22% | +80.3% |
| 2 | China | 440,301,216 19.31% | +5.5% |
| 3 | Russia | 96,851,769 4.25% | +55.1% |
| 4 | India | 83,964,797 3.68% | +21.8% |
| 5 | Ireland | 74,065,210 3.25% | +35.7% |
| 6 | Türkiye | 69,065,868 3.03% | +54.4% |
| 7 | Brazil | 61,896,523 2.71% | +36.3% |
| 8 | Mexico | 54,217,876 2.38% | +58.8% |
| 9 | Japan | 45,410,146 1.99% | −11.2% |
| 10 | Spain | 43,440,480 1.91% | +63.6% |
| 11 | South Korea | 34,020,088 1.49% | +13.3% |
| 12 | Indonesia | 33,549,828 1.47% | −10.6% |
| 13 | Germany | 33,073,180 1.45% | +28.4% |
| 14 | France | 32,000,528 1.40% | +28.2% |
| 15 | Saudi Arabia | 29,403,732 1.29% | +40.2% |
| 16 | United Arab Emirates | 28,422,616 1.25% | +8.8% |
| 17 | United Kingdom | 26,631,932 1.17% | −11.9% |
| 18 | Colombia | 26,167,360 1.15% | +113.2% |
| 19 | Canada | 24,951,000 1.09% | −9.7% |
| 20 | Australia | 24,572,955 1.08% | +5.3% |
| 21 | Hungary | 20,127,200 0.88% | +37.9% |
| 22 | Sweden | 20,067,144 0.88% | +42.3% |
| 23 | Netherlands | 19,349,166 0.85% | +31.2% |
| 24 | Austria | 18,901,048 0.83% | +42.3% |
| 25 | Qatar | 14,832,936 0.65% | +39.4% |
| 26 | Vietnam | 14,754,847 0.65% | −53.6% |
| 27 | Iran | 13,695,897 0.60% | +7.5% |
| 28 | Thailand | 12,734,583 0.56% | −54.8% |
| 29 | Switzerland | 10,988,881 0.48% | +22.0% |
| 30 | Chile | 10,302,876 0.45% | +28.5% |
| 31 | South Africa | 9,321,576 0.41% | +12.2% |
| 32 | Peru | 9,053,965 0.40% | +58.7% |
| 33 | Kazakhstan | 8,765,001 0.38% | +65.9% |
| 34 | New Zealand | 8,729,635 0.38% | +2.5% |
| 35 | Greece | 8,726,345 0.38% | +54.5% |
| 36 | Panama | 8,208,378 0.36% | +167.0% |
| 37 | Portugal | 8,056,495 0.35% | +29.5% |
| 38 | Ethiopia | 7,065,954 0.31% | +43.0% |
| 39 | Philippines | 6,886,922 0.30% | −35.1% |
| 40 | Argentina | 6,708,097 0.29% | +82.2% |
| 41 | Egypt | 5,563,387 0.24% | +19.9% |
| 42 | Belgium | 5,404,284 0.24% | +53.5% |
| 43 | Malaysia | 4,965,361 0.22% | −68.8% |
| 44 | Pakistan | 4,930,662 0.22% | +32.8% |
| 45 | Morocco | 4,740,714 0.21% | +57.4% |
| 46 | Nigeria | 4,486,313 0.20% | +30.6% |
| 47 | Bolivia | 4,311,880 0.19% | +64.1% |
| 48 | Bangladesh | 3,750,753 0.16% | +25.7% |
| 49 | Poland | 3,676,185 0.16% | +36.9% |
| 50 | Ukraine | 3,282,709 0.14% | +82.3% |
| 51 | Finland | 2,805,555 0.12% | −19.8% |
| 52 | Romania | 2,719,206 0.12% | +52.2% |
| 53 | Nepal | 2,550,505 0.11% | +28.2% |
| 54 | Kenya | 2,459,106 0.11% | +31.8% |
| 55 | Italy | 2,449,339 0.11% | −68.6% |
| 56 | Israel | 2,437,207 0.11% | +95.1% |
| 57 | Singapore | 2,311,712 0.10% | −70.7% |
| 58 | Kuwait | 2,182,888 0.10% | +19.7% |
| 59 | Oman | 2,075,390 0.09% | −16.9% |
| 60 | Uzbekistan | 2,010,914 0.09% | +115.4% |
| 61 | Algeria | 1,949,936 0.09% | +33.6% |
| 62 | Bahrain | 1,840,268 0.08% | +26.8% |
| 63 | Jordan | 1,695,302 0.07% | +107.7% |
| 64 | Tunisia | 1,675,777 0.07% | +21.3% |
| 65 | Iraq | 1,620,013 0.07% | +111.9% |
| 66 | Lebanon | 1,603,134 0.07% | +48.7% |
| 67 | Latvia | 1,598,685 0.07% | +20.8% |
| 68 | Ecuador | 1,534,854 0.07% | +33.9% |
| 69 | Iceland | 1,499,034 0.07% | +65.8% |
| 70 | Czechia | 1,418,032 0.06% | +52.5% |
| 71 | El Salvador | 1,412,026 0.06% | +75.3% |
| 72 | Sudan | 1,386,967 0.06% | +258.5% |
| 73 | Serbia | 1,276,465 0.06% | +60.5% |
| 74 | Tanzania | 1,146,973 0.05% | +39.3% |
| 75 | Myanmar | 1,132,656 0.05% | −24.8% |
| 76 | Azerbaijan | 1,102,455 0.05% | +102.2% |
| 77 | Luxembourg | 1,081,478 0.05% | +43.6% |
| 78 | The Bahamas | 1,065,149 0.05% | −16.3% |
| 79 | Belarus | 1,040,730 0.05% | −15.2% |
| 80 | Papua New Guinea | 1,039,010 0.05% | +11.4% |
| 81 | Libya | 968,476 0.04% | +35.4% |
| 82 | Sri Lanka | 871,685 0.04% | −29.7% |
| 83 | Hong Kong | 777,197 0.03% | −86.8% |
| 84 | Croatia | 767,762 0.03% | +26.2% |
| 85 | Rwanda | 715,764 0.03% | +8.2% |
| 86 | Macao | 698,047 0.03% | +28.2% |
| 87 | Syria | 672,219 0.03% | +124.5% |
| 88 | Togo | 672,184 0.03% | +109.5% |
| 89 | Belize | 670,362 0.03% | −31.0% |
| 90 | Costa Rica | 669,298 0.03% | +46.8% |
| 91 | Trinidad and Tobago | 652,148 0.03% | −3.8% |
| 92 | Turkmenistan | 648,370 0.03% | −40.2% |
| 93 | Malta | 597,724 0.03% | +8.8% |
| 94 | Côte d’Ivoire | 569,309 0.02% | +76.3% |
| 95 | Ghana | 559,393 0.02% | +74.0% |
| 96 | Moldova | 528,581 0.02% | +72.4% |
| 97 | Mozambique | 411,739 0.02% | +25.6% |
| 98 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 392,102 0.02% | +41.3% |
| 99 | Senegal | 359,706 0.02% | +32.6% |
| 100 | Angola | 311,488 0.01% | −12.7% |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator IS.AIR.PSGR, based on ICAO carrier statistics. Ranking year used here: 2021, the latest fully comparable year used for this Top 100 ranking. Global total across ranked countries in 2021: 2,279,974,770 passengers.
Methodology
This ranking uses the World Bank World Development Indicators series IS.AIR.PSGR, which defines air transport passengers carried as domestic and international aircraft passengers flown by airlines registered in a country. That definition is crucial because it ties the count to the airline’s country of registration, not to airport departures, arrivals, or tourism flows. A country can therefore rank high because of a large domestic market, because it hosts major network carriers, or because it serves as a regional or global hub.
Although the broader World Bank series extends beyond 2021, a complete and consistent Top 100 snapshot is available for 2021, so the ranking uses that year throughout. This avoids combining later partial updates with older country observations. Year-over-year change is calculated against the 2020 value in the same series.
Country rows come from the country-level portion of the official dataset, and aggregate groups are excluded. Values are shown as full passenger counts with thousand separators. A secondary display mode converts each count into a share of the summed 2021 total across ranked countries. Minor differences from other aviation tables can appear because other sources may use airport traffic, departures, seats, or passengers travelling to and from a country rather than passengers carried by airlines registered there.
There are also structural limitations. Carrier registration matters. Airline mergers and group structures matter. Pandemic timing mattered a great deal in 2021. For some readers, airport passenger throughput may be the more intuitive measure. This ranking should therefore be read as a country ranking of passengers carried by registered airlines, not as a complete statement about tourism demand or airport activity.
Insights and interpretation
The first clear takeaway is concentration. The Top 10 account for more than 71% of the total used in this ranking, and the Top 20 for almost 85%. Aviation scale is not evenly spread across countries. A small set of giant systems dominates the measurable carrier market, while the median country inside the Top 100 is far smaller than the leaders.
The second takeaway is that there are different routes into the upper tier. The United States, China, India, Brazil, Mexico, and Japan owe their positions largely to domestic market size. Ireland and the United Arab Emirates show the power of airline strategy and registration structure. Spain, Türkiye, and Saudi Arabia show how tourism, geography, and hub-building can pull a country upward. This mix is why the ranking is more interesting than a simple population table.
The third takeaway is that recovery in 2021 was uneven. Most Top 100 countries posted positive year-over-year change because 2020 was such a depressed base. But not every large market bounced back at the same speed. Some Asian and developed markets were still constrained by health restrictions, while several hub and leisure-oriented systems recovered faster. That is why the YoY column adds real value: it separates large size from fast recovery.
The lower half of the Top 100 also matters. Once the ranking moves below the headline names, you begin to see regional specialists, tourism-oriented carriers, and mid-sized systems where a single airline or route structure can move a country sharply up or down the table. In practical terms, the middle and lower bands are where aviation strategy, competition, and policy can shift positions more quickly than in the mega-markets at the top.
What this means for readers
For readers interested in mobility, this ranking is a quick way to see where large airline systems are based. That matters when comparing route density, transfer options, hub strength, or the resilience of national carriers. It also helps explain why some countries feel much more connected by air than others, even when their populations are not especially large.
For tourism and travel readers, the ranking is useful precisely because it is not a tourism table. It can show when a country’s aviation footprint is being driven more by airline structure than by inbound visitor counts. That helps when comparing destinations, airport investment, or route expansion plans. A country can be a major carrier base without being the largest destination market, and the reverse can also be true.
For investors, policy observers, and business readers, the list helps distinguish between different aviation models. Some countries are driven mainly by domestic volume. Some are defined by hub strategy. Others reflect registration and fleet-management structures. Once that difference is clear, it becomes easier to interpret airport projects, airline profitability, tourism sensitivity, and exposure to global shocks.
FAQ
What exactly is counted here?
This indicator counts passengers carried by airlines registered in a country. It includes domestic and international aircraft passengers, but it does not mean all of those passengers started or ended their trip inside that country.
Why is Ireland so high relative to its population?
Because this is a carrier-registration metric, not an airport-throughput metric. Countries that host large airline groups or leasing structures can rank much higher than their population alone would suggest.
Is this the same as tourist arrivals?
No. Tourist arrivals measure inbound visitors. Air transport passengers carried measures how many passengers are flown by airlines registered in a country, regardless of where those passengers travel.
Why are there big YoY jumps in 2021?
Because the comparison year is 2020, when aviation was deeply disrupted by COVID-19 restrictions. Many countries show strong rebounds in 2021 simply because the base year was unusually weak.
Why use 2021 here if the World Bank page shows the series through 2023?
Because 2021 provides a complete and comparable cross-country snapshot for a full Top 100. Using that year avoids mixing partial later updates with older observations and keeps the ranking consistent.
Does a higher rank always mean a stronger aviation sector?
Not automatically. High counts can reflect market size, hub status, tourism, geography, airline registration structures, or a strong domestic network. The indicator is useful, but it needs interpretation.
What should I compare this with next?
A good next step is to compare this ranking with airport passenger throughput, tourist arrivals, air freight, carrier departures, or broader mobility indicators. Together they show whether a country is large, hub-oriented, tourism-heavy, or domestically driven.
Sources
- World Bank Data — IS.AIR.PSGR: official indicator page for air transport passengers carried.
- World Bank metadata glossary: definition, source attribution, and technical description of the indicator.
- ICAO Data+: original aviation statistics source referenced by the World Bank indicator.
- World Development Indicators database: the broader statistical database behind the indicator series.
- World Bank country and lending groups: useful for understanding how the World Bank organizes countries and economies in its datasets.
