Top Countries by Population – 1960/2050

The world’s population in 2020 has nearly reached 8 billion. In fact, there will be over 7.834 billion people worldwide in 2020. But which nations in the world have the most people? How has the world’s population grown over the years? Which are the nations that will have the most inhabitants in 2050? All of these questions are answered in this in-depth study.

Top 20 Countries by Population – 1960/2050

In this new video I made on the “Statistics and Data” channel you can see the evolution of the Top 20 Countries by Population from 1960 to 2050. The data from 1960 to 2020 are “certain”. From 2020 to 2050 I used several databases, including Eurostat, to show the projections. These projections can obviously change. But usually over the past few decades the projections made by these institutions have always been correct.

Let’s start in 1960. 60 years ago the nation with the most inhabitants was China followed by India and the United States. China had over 667 million inhabitants and India over 450 million. The United States had more than 180. Next was Russia (USSR) with less than 180 million and then all the other nations of the world with less than 100 million. Among the top 20 nations it is interesting to note that in 1960 there were many from Europe/European Union. Among these are Germany, Great Britain, Italy, France, etc.

If we move to 2020, we can see that China and India alone have reached almost 3 billion inhabitants worldwide. Nations with more than 100 million inhabitants have become 14. Among these are countries such as Indonesia, Pakistan and Brazil. But what is striking in general is how most of the countries of Europe have dropped out of the top 20. In fact, removing the USSR, which has since become Russia, and Germany, there is only one European Union country among the top 20 and only one country from the enlarged Europe.

Top 20 countries by population in 2050

And in 30 years, what will happen? According to various estimates, including Eurostat, India could surpass China in population as early as 2022. In fact, in 2050, India could have more than 1.6 billion inhabitants. In this way this country will surpass China by almost 300 million inhabitants. In third place, Nigeria, an African country, will surpass the United States, which will drop from third place for the first time. To grow – as it is easy to see from the video above – will be, above all, Asian and African countries. Among these, for example, Congo will have almost 200 million inhabitants. Also in 2050 among the 20 most populated countries in the world there will be no nation belonging to the European Union.

Below are all the nations by population numbers in the years: 1960, 2020 and 2050.

Country Name196020202050
Afghanistan89969733892800064683000
Albania160880028670002493000
Algeria110578634385100060923000
American Samoa201235500054000
Andorra134117700076000
Angola54549333286600077420000
Antigua and Barbuda5413198000111000
Argentina204817794530300054894000
Armenia187412129630002816000
Aruba54211107000109000
Australia102764772556600032670000
Austria704753989240008936000
Azerbaijan38953971012500011021000
Bahamas, The109534393000463000
Bahrain16242717020002316000
Bangladesh48013504164689000192568000
Barbados230980287000277000
Belarus819800094700008610000
Belgium91534891152200012063000
Belize92064398000571000
Benin24316221212300024280000
Bermuda44400....
Bhutan223288772000905000
Bolivia36569551167300015840000
Bosnia and Herzegovina322566832810002685000
Botswana50274523520003510000
Brazil72179226212559000228980000
British Virgin Islands80483000032000
Brunei Darussalam81702437000492000
Bulgaria786737469190005358000
Burkina Faso48292882090300043432000
Burundi27979321189100025325000
Cabo Verde201765556000679000
Cambodia57223701671900021861000
Cameroon51769182654600050573000
Canada179090093771000045190000
Cayman Islands78656600085000
Central African Republic150166848300008401000
Chad30016091642600034031000
Chile81329901911600020319000
China66707000014013790001335573000
Colombia160577245088300055958000
Comoros1911218700001472000
Congo1524825189561000194489000
Congo, Rep.1018253551800010702000
Costa Rica133078250940005773000
Cote d'Ivoire35035532637800051264000
Croatia414018140380003301000
Cuba71412501132700010162000
Curacao124826161000171000
Cyprus57293012070001355000
Czech Republic96020061067000010484000
Denmark457960358320006248000
Djibouti836369880001295000
Dominica600117200071000
Dominican Republic32942241084800012796000
Ecuador45436661764300023316000
Egypt26632894102334000159957000
El Salvador276632464860006937000
Equatorial Guinea25533314030002821000
Eritrea1007590....
Estonia121153713210001146000
Eswatini33658311600001704000
Ethiopia22151278114964000205411000
Faroe Islands346154900053000
Fiji3934818960001071000
Finland442963455320005449000
France466216696727000069180000
French Polynesia78076281000311000
Gabon50092822260003809000
Gambia, The36504724170004882000
Georgia364560037080003232000
Germany728149008316200078519000
Ghana66352303107300052016000
Gibraltar234203400034000
Greece8331725106150009169000
Greenland32500....
Grenada89932113000116000
Guam66742169000193000
Guatemala42107471791600026921000
Guinea34941621313300025972000
Guinea-Bissau61613619680003557000
Guyana571819787000825000
Haiti38661591140300014878000
Honduras2038632990500013831000
Hong Kong307560575640008124000
Hungary998396797190008503000
Iceland175574358000391000
India45054767913800040001639176000
Indonesia87751068273524000330905000
Iran2190691483993000103098000
Iraq72897604022200070940000
Ireland282860049770005681000
Isle of Man484428500091000
Israel2114020917200013427000
Italy501997006018100053615000
Jamaica162852029610002960000
Japan92500572125661000107810000
Jordan9331021020300012932000
Kazakhstan99345631871300023975000
Kenya81200805377100091575000
Kiribati41202119000177000
North Korea114241762577900026562000
South Korea250123745165600046566000
Kosovo94700018700002150000
Kuwait26902942710005393000
Kyrgyz Republic217230065430009191000
Lao PDR212089872760009480000
Latvia212097918870001494000
Lebanon180494168250006528000
Lesotho83727021420002665000
Liberia111865750580009340000
Libya144841768710008525000
Liechtenstein164933800040000
Lithuania277855027290002156000
Luxembourg313970627000780000
Macao167791649000838000
Madagascar50993732769100054048000
Malawi36599841913000038143000
Malaysia81563473236600040550000
Maldives89863541000586000
Mali52637332025100043586000
Malta326550487000465000
Marshall Islands146625900075000
Mauritania85038446500009025000
Mauritius65935112700001213000
Mexico37771859128933000155151000
Micronesia, Fed. Sts.44514115000139000
Moldova204366426920002221000
Monaco224523900046000
Mongolia95550532780004449000
Montenegro480579622000582000
Morocco123285323691100046166000
Mozambique71848693125500065313000
Myanmar217369425441000062253000
Namibia63414225410003981000
Nauru43751300013000
Nepal101050502913700035324000
Netherlands114866311730300017219000
New Caledonia79000291000380000
New Zealand237180049180005660000
Nicaragua177312966250008531000
Niger33887642420700065593000
Nigeria45138458206140000401315000
North Macedonia148866720830001857000
Northern Mariana Islands99795800062000
Norway358123953970006520000
Oman55174051070006915000
Pakistan44988690220892000338013000
Palau97711800018000
Panama113299743150005853000
Papua New Guinea2255859894700014204000
Paraguay190398271330009102000
Peru101550153297200040374000
Philippines26269734109581000144488000
Poland296374503787900033157000
Portugal8857716102200009057000
Puerto Rico235800031840002819000
Qatar4738428810003851000
Romania184069051921100016267000
Russia119897000144222000132649000
Rwanda29355821295200023048000
Samoa108629198000267000
San Marino154323400034000
Sao Tome and Principe64302219000394000
Saudi Arabia40865393481400044562000
Senegal32067491674400033187000
Serbia..69200005521000
Seychelles417009800098000
Sierra Leone2317636797700012945000
Singapore164640057720006312000
Sint Maarten......
Slovak Republic406809554510004957000
Slovenia158472020740001920000
Solomon Islands1178496870001290000
Somalia27559721589300034922000
South Africa170998405930900075518000
South Sudan28427241119400019963000
Spain304550004682900043252000
Sri Lanka98744762183700021570000
St. Kitts and Nevis511955300056000
St. Lucia89697184000182000
St. Martin3893....
St. Vincent and the Grenadines80977111000109000
Sudan75444914384900081193000
Suriname287871587000680000
Sweden74846561029900011506000
Switzerland532782786310009675000
Syrian Arab Republic45735121750100033129000
Tajikistan2087049953800016208000
Tanzania1005215259734000129387000
Thailand273972076980000065940000
Timor-Leste47453213180002019000
Togo1580513827900015415000
Tonga61577106000134000
Trinidad and Tobago84797913990001344000
Tunisia41782361181900013797000
Turkey274723458433900097140000
Turkmenistan160325860310007949000
Turks and Caicos Islands58243900050000
Tuvalu53231200016000
Uganda67670954574100089447000
Ukraine426646524415800036799000
United Arab Emirates92418989000010425000
United Kingdom524000006714800072711000
United States180671000330532000376167000
Uruguay253864334740003639000
Uzbekistan85263003374900039980000
Vanuatu63689307000557000
Venezuela81418412843600037023000
Vietnam3267003997339000109605000
Virgin Islands (U.S.)3250010700095000
West Bank and Gaza..48130008767000
Yemen53153552982600048080000
Zambia30707761838400039121000
Zimbabwe37766811486300023948000
Data from database: Population estimates and projections
Last Updated: 05/19/2020

Evolution of Population in 2100 by Continent

We’ve seen the nations in the world that had the most inhabitants in 1960, in 2020, and in the near-term future, in 2050. But which continents will have the most inhabitants by 2100? To answer this question we are helped by the table made by Statistca based on data from the United Nations.

In Asia, there will be an increase from 4601 million inhabitants in 2019 to over 4700 in 2100. But the greatest growth will be in Africa. From 1308 billion in 2019, in 2100 it is assumed that there will be over 4 million. More precisely, 4280 million. In less than 80 years, Africa will almost become the most populated continent in the world. Following in third place is Europe, which will lose inhabitants, and North America, which will see growth. Stable instead South America. Live growth in Central America and Oceania.

Sources and useful links

To write this article I used several sources: Statista, Eurostat, Our World in Data.

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