DEMOGRAPHICSCharted: The World’s Most Populous Countries (1973–2023)Published 1 day ago on October 11, 2022
By Nick Routley
Article/Editing:
Raul Amoros
Graphics/Design:
Joyce Ma
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Data visualization showing the world’s top 10 most populous countries over the past 50 years
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The World’s Most Populous Countries (1973–2023)
Humankind is now double the size it was in 1973.
Of course, that growth has been far from uniform, and the ranking of the world’s most populous countries continues to evolve.
Using the latest data available from the United Nations, we’ve looked at which countries have the largest share of the planet’s eight billion people.
The Top 10 Most Populous Countries
Here are the countries shown above, including how much they’ve grown over the past 50 years:
Country Population (1973) Population (2023) Change (1973–2023)
🇨🇳 China 881,652,084 1,425,671,353 544,019,269
🇮🇳 India 596,107,487 1,428,627,666 832,520,179
🇺🇸 United States 207,314,772 339,996,567 132,681,795
🇷🇺 Russia 132,191,636 144,444,360 12,252,724
🇮🇩 Indonesia 124,709,060 277,534,118 152,825,058
🇯🇵 Japan 109,679,473 123,294,516 13,615,043
🇧🇷 Brazil 103,666,906 216,422,450 112,755,544
🇩🇪 Germany 78,667,473 83,294,634 4,627,161
🇧🇩 Bangladesh 71,144,816 172,954,325 101,809,509
🇵🇰 Pakistan 64,285,630 240,485,666 176,200,036
🇳🇬 Nigeria 59,605,450 223,804,636 164,199,186
🇲🇽 Mexico 55,228,202 128,455,563 73,227,361
The numbers above highlight the extreme variance in growth for these world’s most populous countries. While Germany has grown by just 6% over the past 50 years, Pakistan and Nigeria have nearly quadrupled their populations.
Half a century ago, there were only six countries with populations of over 100 million. Today, there are 15 countries past that mark, with Vietnam positioned to hit that milestone next.
The Top 20 Most Populous Countries
Things get even more interesting when we examine the top 20 most populous countries over the same time period.
Country Population (1973) Rank (1973) Population (2023) Rank (2023)
🇨🇳 China 881,652,084 1 1,425,671,353 2
🇮🇳 India 596,107,487 2 1,428,627,666 1
🇺🇸 United States 207,314,772 3 339,996,567 3
🇷🇺Russia 132,191,636 4 144,444,360 9
🇮🇩 Indonesia 124,709,060 5 277,534,118 4
🇯🇵 Japan 109,679,473 6 123,294,516 12
🇧🇷 Brazil 103,666,906 7 216,422,450 7
🇩🇪 Germany 78,667,473 8 83,294,634 19
🇧🇩 Bangladesh 71,144,816 9 172,954,325 8
🇵🇰 Pakistan 64,285,630 10 240,485,666 5
🇳🇬 Nigeria 59,605,450 11 223,804,636 6
🇬🇧 United Kingdom 56,166,630 12 67,736,798 21
🇲🇽 Mexico 55,228,202 13 128,455,563 10
🇮🇹 Italy 54,379,587 14 58,870,763 25
🇫🇷 France 51,814,077 15 64,756,586 23
🇺🇦 Ukraine 48,301,548 16 36,744,635 41
🇻🇳 Vietnam 44,891,286 17 98,858,947 16
🇵🇭 Philippines 40,406,232 18 117,337,366 13
🇹🇭 Thailand 38,873,065 19 71,801,281 20
🇹🇷 Turkey 38,028,236 20 85,816,192 18
🇪🇬 Egypt 37,120,778 21 112,716,599 14
🇮🇷 Iran 30,981,903 25 89,172,768 17
🇪🇹 Ethiopia 30,694,321 26 126,527,064 11
🇨🇩 DRC 21,853,908 32 102,262,812 15
Looking back 50 years ago, Nigeria was the lone African nation in the top 20. Today, it is joined by Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – all of which have experienced staggering population growth.
African nations are expected to lead population growth over the next few decades. By 2100, one quarter of the world’s people are expected to be African.
Europe is the flip side of this equation. Back in 1973, there were six European countries in this top list. Today, only Russia and Germany remain, with the latter country soon to fall out of the top 20 ranking.
Ukraine, which was shrinking, is expected to fall to at least 41st place due to the turmoil surrounding the Russian invasion of the country. Since the invasion began in February 2022, nearly 14 million border crossings have been recorded from Ukraine to other countries.
How Big Will Populations Get?
Once India becomes the world’s largest country, it will likely remain so for many decades in the future, peaking in the 2060s (unless there are substantial changes in projected growth rates). India’s peak population will stand at around 1.7 billion people.
The world’s population is expected to peak later, around the 2080s. Humanity’s peak population is expected to be about 10.5 billon.
