Every year, the world’s population is expanding by 83 million people. As of 2017, there are around 7.6 billion people in the world.
Population trends are wildly uneven - some countries are rapidly expanding, others are shrinking.
China and India together make up 37% of the world’s population.
Nigeria has the world’s fastest growing population.
Ten Most Populous Countries of the World
|
Sl. No
|
Country
|
Population
|
Reference Date
|
1
|
China
|
1,379,302,771
|
26.09.2017
|
2
|
India
|
1,281,935,911
|
26.09.2017
|
3
|
United States of America
|
326,625,791
|
26.09.2017
|
4
|
Indonesia
|
260,580,739
|
26.09.2017
|
5
|
Brazil
|
207,353,391
|
26.09.2017
|
6
|
Pakistan
|
204,924,861
|
26.09.2017
|
7
|
Nigeria
|
190,632,261
|
26.09.2017
|
8
|
Bangladesh
|
157,826,578
|
26.09.2017
|
9
|
Russia
|
142,257,519
|
26.09.2017
|
10
|
Japan
|
126,451,398
|
26.09.2017
|
Even though India accounts for only 2.4% of surface area of the earth, it contributes 17.5% to the world population, which is extremely large.United States of America accounts for 7.2% of the earth’s surface area, it contributes only 4.5% to the world population.
With China slowing down on population growth, it is estimated that by 2030, India will be the most populous country in the world with 17.9%.
References:
- Census of India 2011.
- United States Census Bureau.
- World Population Growth - (https://ourworldindata.org/world-population-growth/)