World Population At Its Peak In These Countries

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  • India, China, and the United States still remain the world’s top three populous countries even after 50 decades.
  • Even with China Launching its One child Policy, the population growth is still rising.
  • Over the 50 decades many African countries have also entered in the top 20.

Since 1973, the size of humanity has doubled. Even Though there has been a great deal of variation in that growth, the list of the nations with the highest populations is still changing. 

To see which nations account for the largest portion of the eight billion on the planet, Visual capitalist examined them using the most recent data from the United Nations.

The apex 10

Country Population (1973) Population (2023)
China 881,652,084 1,425,671,353
India 596,107,487 1,428,627,666
United States 207,314,772 339,996,567
Russia 132,191,636 144,444,360
Indonesia 124,709,060 277,534,118
Japan 109,679,473 123,294,516
Brazil 103,666,906 216,422,450
Germany 78,667,473 83,294,634
Bangladesh 71,144,816 172,954,325
Pakistan 64,285,630 240,485,666
Nigeria 59,605,450 223,804,636

The numbers 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 countries

Things get even more interesting when we examine the top 20 most populous countries over the same time period.

Countries Population (1973) Rank Population (2023) Rank
 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

Lead growth

Nigeria was the only African country in the top 20, 50 years ago. Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have now joined it, all of which have experienced staggering population growth.

African countries are expected to lead population growth in the coming decades. One-quarter of the world’s population is expected to be African by 2100.

Reverse effect

Europe represents the inverse of this equation. This top list included six European countries in 1973. Only Russia and Germany remain today, with the latter set to drop out of the top 20.

 Population downturn

The turmoil surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is predicted to cause the country, which was already declining, to drop to at least the 41st spot. There have been roughly 14 million border crossings from Ukraine to other nations since the invasion started in February 2022.

Future Peak

India is likely to surpass China as the largest country in the world once it does, peaking in the 2060s (unless there are substantial changes in projected growth rates). The peak population of India will be around 1.7 billion people.

Around the year 2080, the population of the world is predicted to reach its peak. The estimated peak human population is 10.5 billion..

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Source: Visual Capitalist