Top 10 countries with highest number of satellites in space (2025)
There are around 12,952 satellites currently orbiting Earth, according to the reports. These satellites are placed in different types of orbits such as Low Earth Orbit, Medium Earth Orbit and Geostationary Orbit. Here's a look at top ten countries with highest number of satellites in space.
United States
The US had about 8530 satellites in orbit, the highest for any country, as of November 2024, according to Statista.com. These include satellites from government organisations like NASA and the Department of Defence and some private companies.
One of the biggest contributors is SpaceX, whose Starlink project alone has over 7,400 satellites.
Russia
Russia currently has around 1559 satellites in space, as reported by n2yo.com. The head of Roscosmos, Yury Borisov has shared that Russia plans to increase its satellite numbers to 2600 by 2036 and with 35% expected to be commercial satellites.
China
China has about 906 satellites in orbit, covering government, military and private use. Some key launches this year include CERES-1, Long March-6/6A and Guowang satellites.
United Kingdom (UK)
As of March 28, 2025, the UK owns 763 satellites. These are mainly used for military purposes, communication, scientific research and technology testing.
Japan
As per n2yo.com, Japan's satellite infrastructure includes 203 active satellites, which span government, defense, science and innovation purposes. Japan also operates five QZSS navigation satellites and aims to increase this number to seven by March 2026.
France
France has over 100 satellites in space. These include satellites for military use, high-quality Earth imaging and defense-related experiments. Future launches such as CO3D and YODA will help strengthen France’s and Europe’s position in space.
India
As of December 31, 2024, India has around 136 satellites in orbit (according to ISRO). These include satellites launched by private companies and universities.
India also has active deep space missions like Chandrayaan 2 Orbiter and Aditya L1. ISRO plans to launch 100 to 150 more satellites in the next three years to improve national security and space capabilities.
Germany
Germany currently operates about 82 satellites, covering areas like science, defense and commercial activities. According to reports, Germany is working on building at least one new satellite network for its military by 2029.
Canada
Canada has launched about 64 satellites in orbit by focusing on Earth monitoring, communication and science. Companies like Telesat, MDA, GHGSat and NorthStar are major players in Canada's satellite industry.
Canada is also partnering internationally to work on deep space missions and astronaut programs.
Italy
Italy has around 66 satellites in orbit which is used mostly for Earth observation, communication and navigation. Projects like IRIDE (with 34 satellites) and proposed National Constellation (around 100 satellites) are expected to grow Italy’s space efforts significantly by 2030.
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