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The Population of Every Country is Represented on this Bubble Chart

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The beautiful thing about data visualization is that it can appear deceptively simple.

The world is infinitely complex and burgeoning with all kinds of information. As a result, it seems counterintuitive that things can be reduced to a basic bubble chart or a graph – and to be fair, most things can’t.

When the opportunity does arise, however, the results can be very compelling and thought-provoking. A distilled story can help create insight around a subject that wasn’t possible when looking at it with more nuance and complexity.

The Population of Every Country in Bubbles

Today’s visualization comes from Datashown, and it helps to give some perspective on world population.

It’s a deceptively simple visualization, but the story that gets distilled is loud and clear:

The Population of Every Country is Shown on this Bubble Chart

The beauty lies in the simplicity – and although all countries are represented, only the labels of the biggest are shown.

If you want to dive into the granular data, here is an interactive version of the same diagram, with all countries and population statistics embedded.

Zooming in on the United States

On the above bubble chart, envision “zooming in” on the circle representing the United States, which is located just below China and India.

Here’s the population of every U.S. county in interactive form, from Overflow Data. Highlight any circle (or use the search function) to find the information on a particular county:

Feeling small yet?

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Demographics

Mapped: Population Growth by Region (1900-2050F)

In this visualization, we map the populations of major regions at three different points in time: 1900, 2000, and 2050 (forecasted).

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Map of Population Growth by Region

Mapping Population Growth by Region

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

In fewer than 50 years, the world population has doubled in size, jumping from 4 to 8 billion.

In this visualization, we map the populations of major regions at three different points in time: 1900, 2000, and 2050 (forecasted). Figures come from Our World in Data as of March 2023, using the United Nations medium-fertility scenario.

 

 

Population by Continent (1900-2050F)

Asia was the biggest driver of global population growth over the course of the 20th century. In fact, the continent’s population grew by 2.8 billion people from 1900 to 2000, compared to just 680 million from the second on our list, Africa.

Region190020002050F
Asia931,021,4183,735,089,7755,291,555,919
Africa138,752,199818,952,3742,485,135,689
Europe406,610,221727,917,165704,398,730
North America104,231,973486,364,446679,488,449
South America41,330,704349,634,344491,078,697
Oceania5,936,61531,223,13357,834,753
World 🌐1,627,883,1306,149,181,2379,709,492,237

China was the main source of Asia’s population expansion, though its population growth has slowed in recent years. That’s why in 2023, India surpassed China to become the world’s most populous country.

Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines and Indonesia have also been big drivers of Asia’s population boom to this point.

The Future: Africa to Hit 2.5 Billion by 2050

Under the UN’s medium-fertility scenario (all countries converge at a birthrate of 1.85 children per woman by 2050), Africa will solidify its place as the world’s second most populous region.

Three countries—Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Egypt—will account for roughly 30% of that 2.5 billion population figure.

Meanwhile, both North America and South America are expected to see a slowdown in population growth, while Europe is the only region that will shrink by 2050.

A century ago, Europe’s population was close to 30% of the world total. Today, that figure stands at less than 10%.

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