Which Country Produces the Most Rice? India Overtook China in 2023

Go back to 1961 in the FAO statistics and China held first place every year from 1961 to 2022. India first passed it in 2023, and by 2024 the gap had grown to 10.3 million tonnes (5.0%). If a list still puts China first, check the year: it was right until 2022.

The numbers here are FAO’s FAOSTAT figures for rice, paddy (weighed with the husk on), per calendar year, in tonnes. Countries are ranked among the 113 with a value for 2024. “China” means mainland China only, without Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan. The data were retrieved on November 4, 2026.

• Who is first? India in 2024. It passed China in 2023.
• Is India first in exports too? Yes: about 40% of world rice trade in 2022. Its 2023 export ban moved world prices.
• And Japan? From 3rd in 1961 to 12th in 2024. Rice eaten per person in Japan is now less than half its peak.

Top 10 rice-producing countries in 2024

Top 10 rice-producing countries, 2024

Rank	Country	Production (million tonnes)	Share of world	Rank in 1961
1	India	217.9	26.6%	2
2	China	207.5	25.4%	1
3	Bangladesh	60.6	7.4%	4
4	Indonesia	53.1	6.5%	5
5	Vietnam	43.5	5.3%	7
6	Thailand	33.6	4.1%	6
7	Myanmar	27.7	3.4%	8
8	Philippines	19.1	2.3%	11
9	Pakistan	14.6	1.8%	16
10	Cambodia	14.2	1.7%	13

Shares are of the 2024 total across 113 countries (818.2 million tonnes). The 1961 rank is among the 101 countries with data that year.

The top two alone produce 52.0% of the world’s rice, and the top ten 84.5%. All ten are in Asia. Asia’s share of the world total is 89.5%, down slightly from 92.2% in 1961.

Three countries moved up the most within the top ten since 1961: Pakistan (16th to 9th), Philippines (11th to 8th) and Cambodia (13th to 10th). Africa’s share also grew, from 2.0% to 5.5%. Nigeria went from 0.1 million tonnes (40th) to 9.1 million tonnes (14th), about 69 times as much.

China and India: a chase of more than 60 years

In 1961 the two countries produced almost the same amount (China 53.6 million tonnes, India 53.5 million tonnes, a difference of 0.3%). China then pulled far ahead in the 1960s. In 1982, when the gap was widest, India produced only 44% as much as China. India has been closing in ever since.

A value above 1 in the last column means India produced more that year.

China’s output peaked at 212.8 million tonnes in 2021. From 2015 to 2024 it fell 2.2%, which looks like a plateau. India rose 37.7% over the same period. Since 1961, India’s output has grown 4.1-fold, China’s 3.9-fold, and the world’s 3.8-fold.

India also leads in exports. What happened when it banned them in 2023?

Growing rice and selling it abroad are different things. India also leads in exports: in 2022 it shipped 22.2 million tonnes, more than 40% of the 55.4 million tonnes traded worldwide (The Daily Star). The production statistics used in this article (FAOSTAT) do not cover trade, so this part comes from news reports.

In 2023, India banned exports of non-basmati white rice. According to the same report, world rice prices then rose to their highest in more than 15 years. In 2024, citing a new crop and larger state stocks, India allowed the exports again, and prices fell. During the ban, rival exporters Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan and Myanmar had gained market share and higher prices; after it ended they faced pressure to cut prices. Among the main importers the report names the Philippines, Nigeria, Iraq, Senegal, Indonesia and Malaysia.

When the top producer is also the top exporter, world rice prices can swing with one government’s policy. The trade figures here are from news reports, not from the data behind this article.

Why some pages still say China is first

Rice rankings can look different from one source to the next. Five things usually explain it.

1. The year. China was first through 2022. An older page that names China is simply out of date, not wrong for its year.
2. What is weighed. FAO reports paddy rice, with the husk. Other sources report milled rice, which weighs much less. USDA’s outlook for 2024/25 (April 2025) has India at 147.0 million tonnes and China at 145.3 million tonnes on a milled basis, against FAO’s 217.9 million tonnes for India as paddy. Those figures are not comparable, but both sources put India first.
3. The calendar. FAO counts calendar years; USDA counts crop marketing years such as 2024/25. The same “2024” can cover different months.
4. What “China” covers. FAO has both a “China” aggregate that includes Taiwan and a “China, mainland” series. This site follows the 193 UN member states and uses mainland China.
5. Revisions. Recent years get corrected later. Check the year and the retrieval date.

Below the top two, the order kept changing

Third place has had three owners: Japan (1961–1969), Indonesia (1970–2018), Bangladesh (2019–2024). Bangladesh grew from 14.4 million tonnes to 60.6 million tonnes, and Vietnam from 9.0 million tonnes to 43.5 million tonnes (7th to 5th). Myanmar rose from 6.8 million tonnes to 27.7 million tonnes (8th to 7th), and Thailand from 10.2 million tonnes to 33.6 million tonnes (6th both years).

Japan: from 3rd to 12th

In 1961 Japan produced 16.2 million tonnes and ranked 3rd. Output peaked at 18.8 million tonnes in 1967. In 2024 it was 10.1 million tonnes, 12th among 113 countries: 54% of the peak, or 46% lower. Over the same years world production grew 3.8-fold.

Countries that overtook Japan (and have stayed ahead every year since)

Country	Year Japan was passed	2024 production (million tonnes)
Indonesia	1970	53.1
Bangladesh	1973	60.6
Thailand	1978	33.6
Vietnam	1982	43.5
Myanmar	1987	27.7
Philippines	1999	19.1
Pakistan	2017	14.6
Cambodia	2018	14.2
Brazil	2020	10.7

China and India are not listed: they have produced more than Japan since 1961. The year shown is the first from which a country stays above Japan through 2024.

Why has Japan’s rice fallen? What about the 2024 shortage?

The statistics in this article measure what is grown. What people eat is covered by Japan’s agriculture ministry, using the country’s food balance sheets. Rice eaten per person per year peaked at 118.3 kg in fiscal 1962 and fell to about 51 kg by fiscal 2021, less than half. The ministry’s explainer points to a shift from a diet built on rice, fish and vegetables to dishes with more meat and oil: meat consumption rose about 3.8-fold and fats and oils doubled. As rice, which Japan largely grows itself, was eaten less, calorie-based food self-sufficiency fell from 73% in fiscal 1965 to 38% in fiscal 2021 (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, in Japanese).

Then came shortages. According to an explainer article, the 2023 heat damaged rice quality, leaving a gap between supply and demand of about 440 thousand tonnes for the 2023 crop and 320 thousand for the 2024 crop. The wholesale price per 60 kg went from ¥12,804 in 2021 to ¥36,493 in November 2025, about 2.9 times (Spaceship Earth, in Japanese). It became known in Japan as the “Reiwa rice riots.”

Falling consumption over decades, a de facto limit on production that, per that article, continued after the acreage-reduction policy was formally abolished in 2018, and a hot summer that cut yields all play a part. These data cannot say how much each mattered.

Summary

• In 2024, India (217.9 million tonnes) was the top rice producer and China (207.5 million tonnes) was second.
• China was first from 1961 to 2022; India has led since 2023. The 2023 margin was small (0.6%); in 2024 it was 5.0%.
• All ten leading producers are in Asia, and the top two make 52% of the world’s rice.
• Japan went from 3rd to 12th, and now produces 54% of its peak.