Place profile
Hokkaido covers 78,419.2 km² (30,278 sq mi) of land and had a population of 5 million in 2024, about 64.3 people per km² (167 per sq mi). In more familiar terms, it is about 1.26 times the size of West Virginia.
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Calculated from the population and area above; their reference dates may differ.
The closest rung on the US reference ladder (Census Bureau land area); see the sources below.
The inverse of population density, from the same area and population figures.
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Hokkaido excluding the Northern Territories. Japan's published prefectural area of 83,422.27 km² includes the four disputed island groups (5,003.05 km²), which have been administered by Russia since 1945; this page subtracts them so that the area, the outline and the population all describe the same ground. Japan's own Statistics Bureau makes the same subtraction before computing Hokkaido's population density, and no census is conducted in the disputed islands. Population is a prefectural estimate published only to the nearest thousand.
Average administrative density does not describe population distribution in every neighborhood. Compare population definitions and reference dates alongside the numbers.
Place guide
The area on this page is 78,419.22 km², which excludes the Northern Territories. Japan’s published prefectural area for Hokkaido is 83,422.27 km² and includes them.
The four disputed island groups account for 5,003.05 km² and have been administered by Russia since 1945. The rendered outline, derived from Natural Earth and OSM, also excludes them, and no census is conducted there.
Japan’s own Statistics Bureau subtracts them before computing Hokkaido’s population density. Excluding them here keeps the area, the outline and the population all describing the same ground.
The population of 5,043,000 as of 2024-10-01 is published only to the nearest thousand, so it should not be quoted as an exact head count. Against the area used here, density works out at roughly 64 people per km².
For scale, Hokkaido is roughly 2.2 times Taiwan’s administrative land area, while Japan’s national total is 377,975.64 km². A single prefecture can therefore be larger than the whole reference readers are used to.
Questions people ask
Hokkaido covers 78,419.2 km², or 30,278 sq mi (reference date 2024-10-01). In US terms: ≈ 1.26 × West Virginia.
5 million — 5,043,000 as of 2024-10-01. The scope of that count is set out under “Scope and definitions” on this page.
About 64.3 people per km² (167 per sq mi), derived from the area and population above, whose reference dates may differ. An administrative average does not describe how crowded any particular neighbourhood is.
Hokkaido excluding the Northern Territories. Japan's published prefectural area of 83,422.27 km² includes the four disputed island groups (5,003.05 km²), which have been administered by Russia since 1945; this page subtracts them so that the area, the outline and the population all describe the same ground. Japan's own Statistics Bureau makes the same subtraction before computing Hokkaido's population density, and no census is conducted in the disputed islands. Population is a prefectural estimate published only to the nearest thousand.
Outline source: Natural Earth · Public domain
Read the methodology and data notes