The 25 most populous countries in the world
Two countries hold more than a billion people each, and together India and China account for roughly a third of everyone alive. The gap to third place is enormous: the United States has less than a quarter of either.
Population is the fastest-moving number on any map. Every figure below is an estimate from a particular year, and the year is printed beside it — a ranking of people is really a ranking of when someone last counted.
One change has already outrun this data: India passed China in 2023, and is now the most populous country in the world. The figures here still show the order as it stood when they were collected.
Open the full list, sorted by population →
| # | Country | Population | Area (km²) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | 1,397,715,000 2019 | 9,706,961 |
| 2 | India | 1,366,417,754 2019 | 3,287,590 |
| 3 | United States of America | 328,239,523 2019 | 9,372,610 |
| 4 | Indonesia | 270,625,568 2019 | 1,904,569 |
| 5 | Pakistan | 216,565,318 2019 | 881,912 |
| 6 | Brazil | 211,049,527 2019 | 8,515,767 |
| 7 | Nigeria | 200,963,599 2019 | 923,768 |
| 8 | Bangladesh | 163,046,161 2019 | 147,570 |
| 9 | Russia | 144,373,535 2019 | 17,098,242 |
| 10 | Mexico | 127,575,529 2019 | 1,964,375 |
| 11 | Japan | 126,264,931 2019 | 377,930 |
| 12 | Ethiopia | 112,078,730 2019 | 1,104,300 |
| 13 | Philippines | 108,116,615 2019 | 342,353 |
| 14 | Egypt | 100,388,073 2019 | 1,002,450 |
| 15 | Vietnam | 96,462,106 2019 | 331,212 |
| 16 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 86,790,567 2019 | 2,344,858 |
| 17 | Turkey | 83,429,615 2019 | 783,562 |
| 18 | Germany | 83,132,799 2019 | 357,114 |
| 19 | Iran | 82,913,906 2019 | 1,648,195 |
| 20 | Thailand | 69,625,582 2019 | 513,120 |
| 21 | France | 67,059,887 2019 | 551,695 |
| 22 | United Kingdom | 66,834,405 2019 | 242,900 |
| 23 | Italy | 60,297,396 2019 | 301,336 |
| 24 | South Africa | 58,558,270 2019 | 1,221,037 |
| 25 | United Republic of Tanzania | 58,005,463 2019 | 945,087 |
Population from Natural Earth, each figure carrying the year of its estimate (most are 2019). India overtook China in 2023, after these estimates. Area from the mledoze/countries dataset. The button opens the same ranking inside the app.