Air Passengers Carried by Country, Historical Data 2000-2023

About This Dataset

Passengers carried by air carriers registered in each country, in millions, at six benchmark years from 2000 to 2023. Because the measure follows the airline's country of registration rather than the airport, states hosting large international carriers, such as Ireland with Ryanair, record totals far above their domestic market size.

✨ AI Insight

Carriers registered in the United States flew 941.6 million passengers in 2023, still the largest total, but growth of 42% since 2000 is modest next to the rest of this group. China rose exactly tenfold, from 61.9 to 619.2 million. India grew 943% and Turkey 932%. Ireland's 1,275% rise, from 14.0 to 192.5 million, reflects Ryanair's registration there rather than Irish traffic. The pandemic's shadow is still visible: exactly six of the twelve, namely China, Japan, the United Kingdom, Russia, Brazil and Canada, carried fewer passengers in 2023 than in 2019. Japan grew least over the whole period, up 10%.

Source: World Bank / International Civil Aviation Organization

Key Findings

Auto-computed highlights from this dataset

🏆

United States leads with 942 in 2023.

📈

Ireland grew fastest: +1275% from 2000 to 2023 (14 → 192.50).

📊

Average value in 2023: 231 · median: 120.

📅

2019 recorded the highest combined total across all categories.

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Gap in 2023: United States is 10.6× larger than Canada.