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

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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:

CountryPopulation (1973)Population (2023)Change (1973–2023)
🇨🇳 China881,652,0841,425,671,353544,019,269
🇮🇳 India596,107,4871,428,627,666832,520,179
🇺🇸 United States207,314,772339,996,567132,681,795
🇷🇺 Russia132,191,636144,444,36012,252,724
🇮🇩 Indonesia124,709,060277,534,118152,825,058
🇯🇵 Japan109,679,473123,294,51613,615,043
🇧🇷 Brazil103,666,906216,422,450112,755,544
🇩🇪 Germany78,667,47383,294,6344,627,161
🇧🇩 Bangladesh71,144,816172,954,325101,809,509
🇵🇰 Pakistan64,285,630240,485,666176,200,036
🇳🇬 Nigeria59,605,450223,804,636164,199,186
🇲🇽 Mexico55,228,202128,455,56373,227,361

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.

CountryPopulation (1973)Rank (1973)Population (2023)Rank (2023)
🇨🇳 China881,652,08411,425,671,3532
🇮🇳 India596,107,48721,428,627,6661
🇺🇸 United States207,314,7723339,996,5673
🇷🇺Russia132,191,6364144,444,3609
🇮🇩 Indonesia124,709,0605277,534,1184
🇯🇵 Japan109,679,4736123,294,51612
🇧🇷 Brazil103,666,9067216,422,4507
🇩🇪 Germany78,667,473883,294,63419
🇧🇩 Bangladesh71,144,8169172,954,3258
🇵🇰 Pakistan64,285,63010240,485,6665
🇳🇬 Nigeria59,605,45011223,804,6366
🇬🇧 United Kingdom56,166,6301267,736,79821
🇲🇽 Mexico55,228,20213128,455,56310
🇮🇹 Italy54,379,5871458,870,76325
🇫🇷 France51,814,0771564,756,58623
🇺🇦 Ukraine48,301,5481636,744,63541
🇻🇳 Vietnam44,891,2861798,858,94716
🇵🇭 Philippines40,406,23218117,337,36613
🇹🇭 Thailand38,873,0651971,801,28120
🇹🇷 Turkey38,028,2362085,816,19218
🇪🇬 Egypt37,120,77821112,716,59914
🇮🇷 Iran30,981,9032589,172,76817
🇪🇹 Ethiopia30,694,32126126,527,06411
🇨🇩 DRC21,853,90832102,262,81215

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.

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Demographics

Top 20 Countries Where Older People Are the Happiest

Advanced economies are the happiest countries for older people, likely due to their stronger social security systems.

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A cropped chart ranking the top 20 happiest countries, for those over 60 years old, sourced from the World Happiness Report 2024.

Top 20 Countries Where Older People Are the Happiest

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.

The newest global happiness index doesn’t have any massive surprises from the ongoing trends of the last decade: Europe generally does the best, Africa is still finding its footing, and Asia and South America have vast rank disparities between constituent nations.

However, as the World Happiness Report notes, happiness levels differ across age groups, and countries’ overall ranks tend to obfuscate how the old and young feel separately. To counter this, the report also creates a happiness index by age.

We’ve visualized the top 20 happiest countries according to those aged above 60. For comparison, we have also included a country’s overall index rank.

Data and Takeaways

ℹ️ Gallup’s survey in Israel occurred after October 7th, but before much of the subsequent warfare. As a result, overall life evaluations in the country fell by 0.9 for 2023. Note that each country’s rank is based on a three-year average score.

The top two countries where the seniors are most satisfied—Denmark and Finland—also happen to be the top two countries on the overall happiness index.

As a general trend, advanced economies make up the bulk of this top 20 list, likely due to their stronger social security systems and financial security. Relatedly, they also tend to do well when it comes to the best countries to retire in.

CountryHappiness Rank
(Age 60+)
Overall Happiness
Rank (All ages)
Rank
Difference
🇩🇰 Denmark12-1
🇫🇮 Finland21+1
🇳🇴 Norway37-4
🇸🇪 Sweden440
🇮🇸 Iceland53+2
🇳🇿 New Zealand611-5
🇳🇱 Netherlands76+1
🇨🇦 Canada815-7
🇦🇺 Australia910-1
🇺🇸 U.S.1023-13
🇦🇪 UAE1122-11
🇱🇺 Luxembourg128+4
🇰🇼 Kuwait13130
🇨🇭 Switzerland149+5
🇦🇹 Austria1514+1
🇮🇪 Ireland1617-1
🇨🇷 Costa Rica1712+5
🇮🇱 Israel185+13
🇧🇪 Belgium1916+3
🇬🇧 UK20200

Norway, at third, has the first real discrepancy, with its elderly population ranking four places higher compared to its overall 7th place rank.

New Zealand (6th) and Canada (8th) also have gaps with their overall ranks: indicating that the older generation is happier than other generations within the country.

But for the U.S., (10th) and the UAE (11th), this rank discrepancy is in the double-digits.

In fact, when ranking only by those aged below 30, the U.S. ranks outside of the top 50, indicating that its younger residents are significantly unhappier than their older counterparts.

This is an interesting phenomenon mirrored in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. According to the report, as recently as a decade ago, the younger generation in these countries were about as happy as those aged over 60.

“In the West, the received wisdom was that the young are the happiest and that happiness thereafter declines until middle age, followed by substantial recovery.” –- World Happiness Report.

For other countries like Costa Rica (17) and Israel (18), this pattern reverses. Their overall rank is higher than their rank for older populations, indicating that the young are happier.

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