Most populous countries in the world

You most populous countries in the world are those that have large absolute populations, that is, they have a high number of inhabitants. The world population is 7,794,799,000 people, according to 2020 data from United Nations (UN), and is not evenly distributed over the earth's surface. The countries of the Asian continent alone concentrate 4.6 billion people, the equivalent of 59.5% of the population of the entire planet, especially China and India.

The two countries mentioned above lead the list of the most populous nations in the world. O ranking that we present below was made by the World Bank in July 2020 and updated with the latest population data made available by the UN.

Read too: The 10 poorest countries in the world

List of the 10 most populous countries in the world

countries	Number of inhabitants
1º	China	1.439.324.000
2º	India	1.380.004.000
3º	U.S	331.003.000
4º	Indonesia	273.524.000
5º	Pakistan	220.892.000
6º	Brazil	212.559.000
7º	Nigeria	206.140.000
8º	Bangladesh	164.689.000
9º	Russia	145.934.000
10º	Mexico	128.933.000

Data from the most populous countries in the world

• China

Located in Asian continent, China is the most populous country in the world and It houses just over 18% of the world's population. The Chinese demographic density is 153.3 inhabitants/km², a number that, despite being high, does not place the country among the 10 most populated on the planet.

The country went through a process of rapid and sharp population growth from 1950 onwards, when it jumped from just over 550 million inhabitants to 1 billion in three decades. to curb the population explosion, measures such as the Only Child Policy (1978-2015) were instituted. Today China has a different scenario, with a drop in the growth rate of its population and an increase in the phenomenon of population-ageing.

China is the most populous country in the world, with Shanghai as the city with the largest number of inhabitants. [1]

• India

India is located in South Asia and is the second most populous country in the world. Yourdemographic density is 464.1 inhab/km², being also considered densely populated. The milestone of 1 billion people was reached in the year 2000, and the UN forecast Indian population to surpass Chinese population in 2027|1|. New Delhi, the capital, and Mumbai are the two most populous cities in the country.

Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)

• U.S

Leaving the unit of the billion, the population of the United States, in North America, is the third largest in the world, with 331 million inhabitants. Your demographic density is 36.2 inhab/km², being the New York City the Most Populated in the Country, with about 8.4 million inhabitants. The US has gone through the same demographic phenomenon as China, which is population aging.

• Indonesia

Returning to Asia, the fourth country in the world in population is Indonesia, located in the southeast of the continent. THE demographic density for the year 2020 was 151 inhab/km², matching the value of China. The country's capital, Jakarta, is the city with the largest number of inhabitants: 10.7 million.

• Pakistan

The 5th most populous country in the world is also in Asia, in the southern portion of the continent. It has demographic density of 286.5 inhab/km², with the largest population in the city of Karachi, which currently has 16 million inhabitants. The capital, Islamabad, is considerably smaller, with 1 million inhabitants.

See too: What are the countries with a demographic deficit?

• Brazil

Brazil is the sixth most populous country in the world and the second on the American continent. THE demographic density for the year 2020, indicated by the UN, is 25.4 inhab/km², one of the smallest among the countries listed here. The most populous city is Sao Paulo, in the Southeast region, with 12 million inhabitants. Brasilia, the country's capital, has 3.055 million inhabitants (IBGE, 2020).

The Brazilian population has increased, in the last decade, at progressively lower rates, which indicates a slowdown in population growth. The country is in its third stage of the demographic transition.

São Paulo is the most populous city in Brazil. The country is the sixth in population in the world. [2]

• Nigeria

Nigeria is the seventh most populous country in the world and has the largest population on the African continent. Located in the West Africa region, it has a population density of 226 inhabitants/km², making it part of the list of the ten most populated countries in the Africa. The largest city in the country is Lagos, with 14 million inhabitants, about 4.5 times the population of the capital, Abuja.

• Bangladesh

The eighth largest country in the world is in South Asia. Calls your attention demographic density, which is 1,265.2 inhab/km², being considered the 11th most populated country on the planet. The capital, Dhaka, is also the city with the largest national population, with 20.2 million people.

• Russia

The Russian population is the ninth largest in the world. However, the territory of Russia is the least densely populated among the members of this list and also of the entire planet, with only 8.9 inhab/km². Moscow, the country's capital, is the most populous city, currently with 12.4 million inhabitants.

Moscow, the Russian capital, has the largest population in the country.

• Mexico

Mexico is the last country on our list, with the tenth largest population in the world. The Mexican population surpassed the Japanese in the year 2019, when it rose one position in the world ranking. THE demographic density of the Latin American country is 66.3 inhab/km², with the largest population group gathered in the Metropolitan Region of Mexico City, with more than 21 million inhabitants.

Also access: 10 leading causes of death in the world

Difference between populated and populated

The terms populous and populated are widely used when working with the population dynamics of places.

The first one, populous, refers to the absolute population of a certain place, that is, it expresses the total inhabitants. A populous country is one that has a large number of inhabitants, such as the ten listed above.

The term populated refers to the relative population of a place. The relative population, in turn, corresponds to the demographic density, calculated from the ratio between the absolute population and the territorial area. A populated country is one that has a high population density, such as Monaco, which has 26,373.8 inhabitants/km². Despite the expressive number, it is not populous, as it has 39 thousand inhabitants. Russia is the opposite example: although populous, it is a sparsely populated country.

Note

|1| ALVES, José Eustáquio Diniz. Future of India: the most populous country in the world and without clean water. Eco Debate, 03 Jan. 2020. Available on here. Accessed on 19 Jan. 2020.

Image credits

[1] efired / Shutterstock

[2] Alf Ribeiro / Shutterstock

By Paloma Guitarrara
Geography teacher