The most populous countries
This page covers total population per country — not population density (people per km²). In 2025, India leads with 1.45 billion people, followed by China with 1.41 billion. Together that is more than 2.86 billion people, well over a third of the entire world population. Below you will find the 15 most populous countries, sorted by population. Figures come from the UN World Population Prospects 2024 and Worldometer 2025.
Top 15 by population (2025)
Click any column heading to re-sort the table.
| Rank | Country | Continent | Population (2025) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | Asia | 1,450,000,000 |
| 2 | China | Asia | 1,410,000,000 |
| 3 | United States | North America | 345,000,000 |
| 4 | Indonesia | Asia | 282,000,000 |
| 5 | Pakistan | Asia | 251,000,000 |
| 6 | Nigeria | Africa | 230,000,000 |
| 7 | Brazil | South America | 213,000,000 |
| 8 | Bangladesh | Asia | 173,000,000 |
| 9 | Russia | Europe/Asia | 144,000,000 |
| 10 | Mexico | North America | 130,000,000 |
| 11 | Ethiopia | Africa | 130,000,000 |
| 12 | Japan | Asia | 123,000,000 |
| 13 | Philippines | Asia | 116,000,000 |
| 14 | Egypt | Africa | 116,000,000 |
| 15 | DR Congo | Africa | 105,000,000 |
Source: UN World Population Prospects 2024; Worldometer 2025.
Bar chart — top 7 by population
Bar width is proportional to India's population (= 100%).
What the numbers mean
India and China are in a league of their own. Together they count around 2,860,000,000 people — more than a third of the total world population of 8.2 billion. After them comes a large gap: the United States sits in third place with 345 million inhabitants, less than a quarter of India alone. See how large those countries are on the largest countries in the world page.
The position of Bangladesh at number eight is remarkable: the country is smaller than seven times the Netherlands, yet has 173 million inhabitants — one of the highest population densities on Earth. Russia, the largest country by area, ranks only ninth with 144 million people. Area and population therefore diverge sharply, something you can also see on the compare page.
Asia dominates, Africa rises
Six of the top ten most populous countries lie in Asia: India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan. This reflects the fact that Asia already holds nearly 59% of the world's population. North America has two representatives (United States and Mexico); South America one (Brazil).
But the ranking is changing fast. Africa is growing fastest: Nigeria (230 million) and Ethiopia (130 million) have risen sharply in recent decades and are expected to climb further. DR Congo sits in fifteenth place with 105 million, but is growing at more than 3% per year. By 2050, Africa is projected to hold four of the five largest countries in the world (UN WPP 2024).
Sources
- United Nations — World Population Prospects 2024 (population figures per country)
- Worldometer 2025 — current estimates per country
- CIA World Factbook — area data (context)