Markets

Visualizing the Most Populous Countries in the World

Published

10 months ago

December 8, 2020

Dorothy Neufeld

Visualizing the Most Populous Countries in the World

India’s population is projected to surpass China’s as soon as 2022.

While this is consequential on a global economic level, it also leaves other population trends overlooked. For instance, Nigeria is projected to have more people than the U.S., the world’s third-largest country by population, by the year 2050.

This treemap visualization, adapted from PopulationPyramid.net, is an overview of the global population in 2020, showing us the world’s most populous countries.

The 50 Most Populous Countries

China, with a population of 1.44 billion, is the most populous country worldwide.

In 2019, over 60% of its population resided in urban centers, a trend that has seen the portion of city dwellers double over the last 25 years. For context, 83% of the U.S. population lives in cities, while just 35% of India’s population dwells in urban areas.

Together, China and India’s populations make up over 36% of the global total.

	Country	Population (2020)
1	🇨🇳 China	1,439,323,774
2	🇮🇳 India	1,380,004,385
3	🇺🇸 U.S.	331,002,647
4	🇮🇩 Indonesia	273,523,621
5	🇵🇰 Pakistan	220,892,331
6	🇧🇷 Brazil	212,559,409
7	🇳🇬 Nigeria	206,139,587
8	🇧🇩 Bangladesh	164,689,383
9	🇷🇺 Russian Federation	145,934,460
10	🇲🇽 Mexico	128,932,753
11	🇯🇵 Japan	126,476,458
12	🇪🇹 Ethiopia	114,963,583
13	🇵🇭 Philippines	109,581,085
14	🇪🇬 Egypt	102,334,403
15	🇻🇳 Vietnam	97,338,583
16	🇨🇩 D.R. Congo	89,561,404
17	🇹🇷 Turkey	84,339,067
18	🇮🇷 Iran	83,992,953
19	🇩🇪 Germany	83,783,945
20	🇹🇭 Thailand	69,799,978
21	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	67,886,004
22	🇫🇷 France	65,273,512
23	🇮🇹 Italy	60,461,828
24	🇹🇿 Tanzania	59,734,213
25	🇿🇦 South Africa	59,308,690
26	🇲🇲 Myanmar	54,409,794
27	🇰🇪Kenya	53,771,300
28	🇰🇷 Republic of Korea	51,269,183
29	🇨🇴 Colombia	50,882,884
30	🇪🇸 Spain	46,754,783
31	🇺🇬 Uganda	45,741,000
32	🇦🇷 Argentina	45,195,777
33	🇩🇿 Algeria	43,851,043
34	🇸🇩 Sudan	43,849,269
35	🇺🇦 Ukraine	43,733,759
36	🇮🇶 Iraq	40,222,503
37	🇦🇫 Afghanistan	38,928,341
38	🇵🇱 Poland	37,846,605
39	🇨🇦 Canada	37,742,157
40	🇲🇦 Morocco	36,910,558
41	🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	34,813,867
42	🇺🇿 Uzbekistan	33,469,199
43	🇵🇪 Peru	32,971,846
44	🇦🇴 Angola	32,866,268
45	🇲🇾 Malaysia	32,365,998
46	🇲🇿 Mozambique	31,255,435
47	🇬🇭 Ghana	31,072,945
48	🇾🇪 Yemen	29,825,968
49	🇳🇵 Nepal	29,136,808
50	🇻🇪 Venezuela	28,435,943

Extending over 17,000 islands, Indonesia comes fourth among the world’s most populous countries, standing at 273.5 million people.

Pakistan comes in fifth, with 220.8 million. Karachi, located on the southeastern coast of Pakistan, is home to over 16 million people alone. It is Pakistan’s most populous city, and the seventh-largest city in the world.

Nigeria also makes it onto the list. In just three decades, the country’s population is projected to climb from 206 million to 400 million—growing at a percentage clip that is more than double that of India.

The 50 Least Populous Countries

Combined, the 50 least-populous countries make up under 0.4% of the total world population. By contrast, the top 50 account for 87% of the total.

Unsurprisingly, the world’s low population nations are situated on small islands, often tropical and reliant on tourism.

	Country	Population*
1	🇻🇦 Vatican City	799
2	🇹🇰 Tokelau	1,340
3	🇳🇺 Niue	1,615
4	🇫🇰 Falkland Islands	3,377
5	🇲🇸 Montserrat	4,989
6	🇵🇲 Saint Pierre and Miquelon	5,822
7	🇸🇭 Saint Helena	6,059
8	🇳🇷 Nauru	10,756
9	🇼🇫 Wallis and Futuna	11,432
10	🇹🇻 Tuvalu	11,646
11	🇦🇮 Anguilla	14,869
12	🇨🇰 Cook Islands	17,548
13	🇵🇼 Palau	18,008
14	🇧🇶 Caribbean Netherlands	25,979
15	🇻🇬 British Virgin Islands	30,030
16	🇬🇮 Gibraltar	33,701
17	🇸🇲 San Marino	33,860
18	🇱🇮 Liechtenstein	38,019
19	🇹🇨 Turks and Caicos Islands	38,191
20	🇲🇨 Monaco	38,964
21	🇸🇽 Sint Maarten	42,388
22	🇫🇴 Faroe Islands	48,678
23	🇰🇳 Saint Kitts and Nevis	52,823
24	🇦🇸 American Samoa	55,312
25	🇲🇵 Northern Mariana Islands	56,188
26	🇬🇱 Greenland	56,672
27	🇲🇭 Marshall Islands	58,791
28	🇧🇲 Bermuda	62,506
29	🇰🇾 Cayman Islands	64,948
30	🇩🇲 Dominica	71,808
31	🇦🇩 Andorra	77,142
32	🇮🇲 Isle of Man	84,584
33	🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda	97,118
34	🇸🇨 Seychelles	97,739
35	🇻🇮 United States Virgin Islands	104,578
36	🇦🇼 Aruba	106,314
37	🇻🇨 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	110,589
38	🇹🇴 Tonga	110,940
39	🇬🇩 Grenada	112,003
40	🇫🇲 Micronesia (Fed. States of)	113,815
41	🇰🇮 Kiribati	117,606
42	🇨🇼 Curaçao	163,424
43	🇬🇺 Guam	167,294
44	Channel Islands	172,259
45	🇱🇨 Saint Lucia	182,790
46	🇼🇸 Samoa	197,097
47	🇸🇹 São Tomé and Príncipe	215,056
48	Mayotte	266,150
49	🇵🇫 French Polynesia	279,287
50	🇬🇫 French Guiana	282,731

*Source: United Nations, as of July 1, 2019. Includes territories.

With a total of 799 residents in 2019, Vatican City is the least populated country. Following close behind is the territory of Tokelau, a cluster of islands situated between New Zealand and Hawaii.

The Caribbean island nation of Antigua and Barbuda is also among the smallest populations in the world, with just 97,118 inhabitants. While it may be small in terms of total inhabitants, its population density is another story—with over 222 people per square kilometer. That is roughly 50% higher than China, but about half the population density of India.

Meanwhile, the 33 pacific islands of Kiribati also make the top 50 list of the least populous countries worldwide. With a population of 117,606, Kiribati was a testing site for atomic bombs by the British and Americans during the 1960s. The island reached independence in 1979, after being under crown colonial rule since 1916.

Regional Median Ages

How about the median ages across these populations?

By far, the African region has the lowest median age at 19.8 years old, partially driven by a high birth rate of 4.7 children per woman. In contrast, the global average falls around 2.5 children.

By 2050, Africa’s population will effectively double from 1.3 billion to 2.5 billion.

Region	Annual Rate of Natural Population Increase	Median Age (2020)
Africa	2.5%	19.8 years
Asia	0.9%	32.1 years
Central America	1.2%	28.3 years
Europe	-0.1%	42.7 years
Latin America & Caribbean	0.9%	30.9 years
Northern America	0.3%	38.6 years
Oceania	0.9%	33.5 years
South America	0.9%	32.0 years
World	1.0%	30.9 years

Source: Our World in Data

On the other hand, Europe is the oldest, at 42.7 years for this demographic metric.

With a median age of 47.9, Italy has the second-oldest population in the world, topped only by Japan. Meanwhile, Germany (46.6), Portugal (46.2), and Spain (45.5) fall next in line. If current trends continue, by 2050, half of Europe’s population will be non-working and over the age of 65.

That said, it should be noted that this trend is not exclusive to Europe. In 30 years, 1.5 billion people globally will be over the age of 65, amounting to 16% of the global population.

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Markets

Mapping The Biggest Companies By Market Cap in 60 Countries

Tech, finance or energy giant? We mapped the biggest companies by market cap and industry.

Published

4 days ago

September 16, 2021

Omri Wallach

The Biggest Companies By Market Cap in 60 Countries

Tech giants are increasingly making up more of the Fortune 500, but the world’s biggest companies by market cap aren’t so cut and dry.

Despite accounting for the largest market caps worldwide—with trillion-dollar companies like Apple and contenders including Tencent and Samsung—tech wealth is largely concentrated in just a handful of countries.

So what are the biggest companies in each country? We mapped the largest company by market cap across 60 countries in August 2021 using market data from CompaniesMarketCap, TradingView, and MarketScreener.

What are the Largest Companies in the World?

The world has 60+ stock exchanges, and each one has a top company. We looked at the largest local company, since many of the world’s largest firms trade on multiple exchanges, and converted market cap to USD.

Country	Company	Industry	Market Cap (August 2021)
USA	Apple	Technology	$2.5T
Saudi Arabia	Saudi Aramco	Energy	$1.9T
Taiwan	TSMC	Technology	$594.5B
China	Tencent	Technology	$554.0B
South Korea	Samsung	Technology	$429.7B
France	LVMH	Consumer Cyclical	$414.3B
Switzerland	Roche	Healthcare	$350.0B
Netherlands	ASML	Technology	$322.6B
Japan	Toyota	Consumer Cyclical	$251.6B
Denmark	Novo Nordisk	Healthcare	$236.7B
Ireland	Accenture	Technology	$208.2B
India	Reliance Industries	Energy	$198.1B
Australia	BHP Group	Materials	$191.7B
Canada	Shopify	Technology	$185.7B
UK	Astrazeneca	Healthcare	$182.0B
Germany	SAP	Technology	$174.6B
Singapore	SEA	Technology	$152.3B
Hong Kong	AIA	Financials	$146.4B
Belgium	Anheuser-Busch Inbev	Consumer Staples	$122.7B
Spain	Inditex	Consumer Cyclical	$108.3B
Brazil	VALE	Materials	$103.9B
Russia	Sberbank	Financials	$96.7B
Italy	Enel	Utilities	$93.7B
Argentina	MercadoLibre	Consumer Cyclical	$89.5B
Sweden	Atlas Copco	Industrials	$84.1B
South Africa	Naspers	Technology	$74.1B
Norway	Equinor	Energy	$67.9B
UAE	Etisalat	Communication	$58.7B
Mexico	Walmex	Consumer Staples	$58.1B
Indonesia	Bank Cental Asia	Financials	$54.8B
Kazakhstan	Kaspi.kz	Financials	$49.8B
Qatar	QNB	Financials	$48.2B
Finland	Nordea Bank	Financials	$48.0B
Luxembourg	ArcelorMittal	Materials	$36.3B
Austria	Verbund	Utilities	$33.7B
Thailand	PTT PCL	Energy	$30.1B
Colombia	Ecopetrol	Energy	$26.7B
Malaysia	Maybank	Financials	$23.7B
Philippines	SM Investments	Consumer Cyclical	$22.9B
Kuwait	Kuwait Finance House	Financials	$21.9B
Portugal	EDP Group	Utilities	$21.0B
Vietnam	Vinhomes	Real Estate	$17.1B
Israel	NICE	Technology	$16.9B
Kenya	Safaricom	Communication	$16.0B
Czech Republic	ÄŒEZ Group	Energy	$15.8B
New Zealand	Xero	Technology	$15.8B
Turkey	QNB Finansbank	Financials	$15.8B
Hungary	OTP Bank	Financials	$15.6B
Chile	Enel Americas	Utilities	$14.3B
Morocco	Maroc Telecom	Communication	$13.6B
Poland	PKO Bank Polski	Financials	$12.6B
Cyprus	Polymetal	Materials	$10.0B
Nigeria	Dangote Group	Materials	$10.0B
Bahrain	Ahli United Bank	Financials	$8.6B
Greece	OTE Group	Communication	$8.4B
Peru	Credicorp	Financials	$8.0B
Egypt	Commercial International Bank	Financials	$5.9B
Iceland	Marel	Industrials	$5.8B
Oman	Bank Muscat	Financials	$4.2B
Panama	Copa Holdings	Industrials	$3.1B

Many are former monopolies or massive conglomerates that have grown in the public space, such as South Africa’s Naspers and India’s Reliance Industries.

Others are local subsidiaries of foreign corporations, including Mexico’s Walmex, Chile’s Enel and Turkey’s QNB Finansbank.

But even more noticeable is the economic discrepancy. Apple and Saudi Aramco are worth trillions of dollars, while the smallest companies we tracked—including Panama’s Copa Group and Oman’s Bank Muscat—are worth less than $5 billion.

Finance and Tech Dominate The Biggest Companies By Market Cap

Across the board, the largest companies were able to accumulate wealth and value.

Some are newer to the top thanks to recent success. Canada’s Shopify has become one of the world’s largest e-commerce providers, and the UK’s AstraZeneca developed one of the world’s COVID-19 vaccines.

But the reality is most companies here are old guards that grew on existing resources, or in the case of banks, accumulated wealth.

Industry	Biggest Companies by Country
Financials	16
Technology	12
Energy	6
Materials	5
Communication	4
Consumer Cyclical	4
Utilities	4
Healthcare	3
Industrials	3
Consumer Staples	2
Real Estate	1

Banks were the most commonly found at the top of each country’s stock market. Closely behind were oil and gas giants, mining companies, and former state-owned corporations that drove most of a country’s wealth generation.

But as more economies develop and catch up to Western economies (where tech is dominant), newer innovative companies will likely put up a fight for each country’s top company crown.

Technology

Which Companies Belong to the Elite Trillion-Dollar Club?

Only a few companies have broken the 13-digit market cap barrier to join the $1T+ club. Who’s a member, and who’s hot on their heels?

Published

4 weeks ago

August 23, 2021

Iman Ghosh

Which Companies Belong to the Elite Trillion-Dollar Club?

Just a handful of publicly-traded companies have managed to achieve $1 trillion or more in market capitalization—only six, to be precise.

We pull data from Companies Market Cap to find out which familiar names are breaking the 13-digit barrier—and who else is waiting in the wings.

Footnote: All data referenced is as of August 17, 2021.

The Major Players in the Game

Apple and Microsoft are the only two companies to have shattered the $2T market cap milestone to date, leaving others in the dust. Apple was also the first among its Big Tech peers to ascend to the $1 trillion landmark back in 2018.

Company	Valuation	Country	Age of company
Apple	$2.48T	🇺🇸 U.S.	45 years (Founded 1976)
Microsoft	$2.20T	🇺🇸 U.S.	46 years (Founded 1975)
Saudi Aramco	$1.88T	🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	88 years (Founded 1933)
Alphabet (Google)	$1.83T	🇺🇸 U.S.	23 years (Founded 1998)
Amazon	$1.64T	🇺🇸 U.S.	27 years (Founded 1994)
Facebook	$1.01T	🇺🇸 U.S.	17 years (Founded 2004)

Facebook dipped in and out of the $1T+ club in July 2021, and continues its capricious movement. With just 17 years under its belt, it’s the youngest company ever to reach this valuation milestone—though not without some wild rides along the way.

State-owned oil and gas giant Saudi Aramco is the only non-American company to make the trillion-dollar club. This makes it a notable outlier, as American companies typically dominate the leaderboard of the biggest corporations around the world.

Who Else Might Join the Trillion-Dollar Club?

Companies with a market capitalization above $500 billion are also few and far between. Within this next list of six companies, the world’s most valuable automaker Tesla is another strong candidate to eventually join the Four Comma Club.

As per usual, analyst views on Tesla are quite varied. That said, some on Wall Street are predicting that Tesla might reach $3 trillion in market cap within the decade, owing to significant current and projected demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and driverless systems.

Company	Valuation	Country	Age of company
Tesla	$659B	🇺🇸 U.S.	17 years (Founded 2003)
Berkshire Hathaway	$655B	🇺🇸 U.S.	182 years (Founded 1839)
TSMC	$576B	🇹🇼 Taiwan	34 years (Founded 1987)
Tencent	$537B	🇨🇳 China	23 years (Founded 1998)
Visa	$515B	🇺🇸 U.S.	63 years (Founded 1958)

Visa, one of the pioneers of consumer credit in the United States, continues to innovate even 63 years after its founding. In attempts to expand the reach of its already massive payments ecosystem, Visa is experimenting with acquisitions, and even dipping its toes into cryptocurrency with some success.

Whether the next company to join the trillion-dollar club comes from the U.S., from the tech industry, or out of left field, it’s clear that it has some pretty big shoes to fill.