Charted: The World’s Most Populous Countries (1973–2023)

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 billion.