Over the past few decades, the world’s population has grown steadily. In 1960, there were about 3 billion people on Earth. In July 1987, this number surpassed the 5 billion mark. This year, Union of nations hope that new milestones will be reached, as the world population is expected to exceed 8 billion people by November 2022.
With population growth rates varying widely across the globe (and even negative in some areas), it is highly likely that the planet’s eight billionth population will be born in India. With a clearly positive population growth rate, the country should be the most populous country in the world by 2023.
Population growth in China – currently the most populous country on the planet – has almost stalled. The United Nations even predicts that China’s population will begin to decline from July 2022, a first in the country’s recent history.
As our chart shows, the majority of the world’s population currently resides in China and India, which are each home to about 19% of the planet’s population. Asia is by far the most populous continent, with other countries such as Indonesia, Pakistan and Bangladesh having hundreds of millions of citizens. Half of the world’s twelve most populous countries are Asia.
