Population

In brief

Population: across 213 countries and territories, values range from 9,492 inhab. (Tuvalu) to 1.5B inhab. (India), with a world median of 7M inhab.. Data: 2025. The top 10% of countries exceed 69.3M inhab., while the bottom 10% stay below 95,352 inhab.. By continent, the median is highest in Asia (19.3M inhab.) and lowest in Oceania (169K inhab.).

Median by continent

Why this indicator matters

Population shows how many people live in a country. It is the basis of almost every comparison: market, workforce, needs for schools, health care or housing. It also puts other indicators on a human scale.

What makes this indicator vary

It changes with births, deaths and migration. Level of development, access to health care, education and family choices influence the birth rate. Wars, famines or mass departures can reduce it, while strong immigration increases it.

Reading precautions

These are estimates, because a full census is rare and costly. In some countries, figures rely on old censuses corrected by models. The total number says nothing about the age breakdown or density.