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As of 2025, Tokyo-Yokohama in Japan was the largest world urban agglomeration, with 37 million people living there. Delhi ranked second with more than 34 million, with Shanghai in third with more than 30 million inhabitants.

In 2025, approximately 23 million people lived in the São Paulo metropolitan area, making it the biggest in Latin America and the Caribbean and the sixth most populated in the world. The homonymous state of São Paulo was also the most populous federal entity in the country. The second place for the region was Mexico City with 22.75 million inhabitants. Brazil's cities Brazil is home to two large metropolises, only counting the population within the city limits, São Paulo had approximately 11.45 million inhabitants, and Rio de Janeiro around 6.21 million inhabitants. It also contains a number of smaller, but well known cities such as Brasília, Salvador, Belo Horizonte and many others, which report between 2 and 3 million inhabitants each. As a result, the country's population is primarily urban, with nearly 88 percent of inhabitants living in cities. Mexico City Mexico City's metropolitan area ranks sevenths in the ranking of most populated cities in the world. Founded over the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan in 1521 after the Spanish conquest as the capital of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the city still stands as one of the most important in Latin America. Nevertheless, the preeminent economic, political, and cultural position of Mexico City has not prevented the metropolis from suffering the problems affecting the rest of the country, namely, inequality and violence. Only in 2023, the city registered a crime incidence of 52,723 reported cases for every 100,000 inhabitants and around 24 percent of the population lived under the poverty line.

In 2025, Moscow was the largest city in Europe with an estimated urban agglomeration of 12.74 million people. The French capital, Paris, was the second largest city in 2025 at 11.35 million, followed by the capitals of the United Kingdom and Spain, with London at 9.84 million and Madrid at 6.81 million people. Istanbul, which would otherwise be the largest city in Europe in 2025, is excluded as it is only partially in Europe, with a sizeable part of its population living in Asia. Europe’s population is almost 750 million Since 1950, the population of Europe has increased by approximately 200 million people, increasing from 550 million to 750 million in these seventy years. Before the turn of the millennium, Europe was the second-most populated continent, before it was overtaken by Africa, which saw its population increase from 228 million in 1950 to 817 million by 2000. Asia has consistently had the largest population of the world’s continents and was estimated to have a population of 4.6 billion. Europe’s largest countries Including its territory in Asia, Russia is by far the largest country in the world, with a territory of around 17 million square kilometers, almost double that of the next largest country, Canada. Within Europe, Russia also has the continent's largest population at 145 million, followed by Germany at 83 million and the United Kingdom at almost 68 million. By contrast, Europe is also home to various micro-states such as San Marino, which has a population of just 30 thousand.

In 2024, approximately 11.9 million people lived in São Paulo, making it the largest municipality in Brazil and one of the most populous cities in the world. The homonymous state of São Paulo was also the most populous federal entity in the country. Brazil's cities Brazil is home to two large metropolises: São Paulo with close to 11.9 million inhabitants, and Rio de Janeiro with around 6.7 million inhabitants. It also contains a number of smaller but well-known cities, such as Brasília, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, and many others, which report between 2 and 3 million inhabitants each. As a result, the country's population is primarily urban, with nearly 88 percent of inhabitants living in cities. While smaller than some of the other cities, Brasília was chosen to be the capital because of its relatively central location. The city is also well-known for its modernist architecture and utopian city plan, which is quite controversial - criticized by many and praised by others. Sports venues capitals A number of Brazil’s medium-sized and large cities were chosen as venues for the 2014 World Cup, and the 2015 Summer Olympics also took place in Rio de Janeiro. Both of these events required large sums of money to support infrastructure and enhance mobility within a number of different cities across the country. Billions of dollars were spent on the 2014 World Cup, which went primarily to stadium construction and renovation but also to a number of different mobility projects. Other short-term spending on infrastructure for the World Cup and the Rio Olympic Games was estimated at 50 billion U.S. dollars. While these events have poured a lot of money into urban infrastructure, a number of social and economic problems within the country remain unsolved.

Abstract

The World Values Survey (www.worldvaluessurvey.org) is a global network of social scientists studying changing values and their impact on social and political life, led by an international team of scholars, with the WVS association and secretariat headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. The survey, which started in 1981, seeks to use the most rigorous, high-quality research designs in each country. The WVS consists of nationally representative surveys conducted in almost 100 countries which contain almost 90 percent of the world’s population, using a common questionnaire. The WVS is the largest non-commercial, cross-national, time series investigation of human beliefs and values ever executed, currently including interviews with almost 400,000 respondents. Moreover the WVS is the only academic study covering the full range of global variations, from very poor to very rich countries, in all of the world’s major cultural zones. The WVS seeks to help scientists and policy makers understand changes in the beliefs, values and motivations of people throughout the world. Thousands of political scientists, sociologists, social psychologists, anthropologists and economists have used these data to analyze such topics as economic development, democratization, religion, gender equality, social capital, and subjective well-being. These data have also been widely used by government officials, journalists and students, and groups at the World Bank have analyzed the linkages between cultural factors and economic development.

Geographic coverage

The survey covers Georgia.

Analysis unit

• Household
• Individual

Universe

The WVS for Georgia covers national population aged 18 years and over, for both sexes.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sampling universe included the adult population of Georgia residing in both rural and urban areas, excluding the conflict zones of Abkhazia and Ossetia. Military bases and prisons were also not included. In addition, some villages near the regional city of Gori and Zugdidi that are still under occupation by Russian troops were not included in the sampling. The sample design involved a fivestage random cluster sampling. The sampling frame design is based on the 2002 census information.

In this sampling design the sampling units were:

1) Regions and individual cities (Tbilisi and other principal cities) 2) Towns and villages (primary sampling units, PSUs) 3) Districts in cities, towns, and villages in rural areas (sampling points, SPs) 4) Household (by household we mean a group of individuals who live under the same roof and use the same kitchen for cooking) 5) Randomly selected adult members of households At the first stage, the number of respondents was allocated by probability-proportional-to-size (PPS) method. Likewise, at the second and third stages PSUs and SPs were selected by the probability proportional to the unit size (PPS) method. Households were selected via a random route technique and respondents at the household level were selected via the next-birthday technique:

Stage 1 - Primary sampling units At the first stage of the sampling design Georgia was divided into 11 regions; the division being based on the official administrative and geographic regions of the country.

 1 Tbilisi 
 2 Kakheti 
 3 Shida Kartli 
 4 Kvemo Kartli 
 5 Samtskhe Javakheti 
 6 Ajara 
 7 Guria 
 8 Samegrelo 
 9 Imereti & Svaneti 
10 Mtskheta Mtianeti 
11 Racha 

Each region was stratified according to three criteria:

 a) Large cities over 45,000 individuals - There are seven large cities in Georgia including the capital. All of them will be included in the sampling frame and are regarded as having been selfrepresentative cities or PSUs. 
 b) Other cities and towns with populations of less than 45,000 
 c) Rural settlements The number of interviews in all 10 regions was allocated proportional to the size of the adult population in each region. 

Stage 2 - Selection of PSUs In this stage the PSUs are equivalent to rayons- there are a total of 59 rayons (PSUs) in Georgia (excluding Abkhazia and Ossetia). The final sample covered 24 PSUs; this included seven self-representative PSUs were also included in this number. Due to the security reasons, areas close to Ossetian (town of Akhalgori, which was and continues to be under by Russian troops and the buffer zone areas), as well as the town Zugdidi (villages and small towns surrounding town of Zugdidi) were excluded from the sampling framework. Stage 3 - Selection of sampling points (SPs) In urban areas the SPs were census districts whereas in rural areas an entire village was considered as an SP. There are total of 16,582 registered census districts in Georgia and for each one, information existed as to its location/address and the size of the adult population. In the pre-selected PSUs (according to PPS), the number of SPs were determined and per each selected SP around 10 interviews were completed. Rural areas villages are considered as a separate SP and from the list of villages, (this list contains information on the number of adult population per village), and the SPs was selected by PPS. The achieved sampling framework consisted of 188 randomly selected (via PPS) SPs Stage 4 - Selection of households Selection of households was conducted by the application of a random route technique. For each one, SP starting points were identified and given to supervisors who then instructed interviewers as to how sampling mechanism was to be completed. Interviewers were then instructed to make up to two call backs if the original respondent was not available at the time of the initial contact.

Remarks about sampling:

The interviewer was given a route map in which a starting point for each sample point was accurately indicated. Every interviewer was then expected to have conducted no less than 10 interviews for urban SP and 5 among rural sampling points. The choice of starting points for all SP was made by the project manager or supervisor and was not left to the interviewers discretion. The STARTING POINT may be any point along the route, including day care establishments, schools, hospitals, administration buildings, or the beginning or end of a street (the starting point was indicated on the route map beforehand). If the starting point was the beginning of a street, it is necessary to keep to one side of the street (right or left). If a crossroad is met during the route, it is necessary to turn at this juncture and stay to the same side of the route until an appropriate respondent was chosen (i.e. if the left side is chosen, it was necessary to keep to the left side of the crossroad). If the required number of appropriate respondents was not found and the street ended, the interviewer should than have turned to the other side of the street and continued to the left handed side of the street. If the starting point had been a multi-storied building, the interviewer should have proceeded to the top floor and knocked at the door of the apartment on the side of which he followed during the route. It was not possible skipped any apartment until the appropriate respondent was found. After the interview with the appropriate respondent was completed the interviewer was to have followed the route and selected every fifth apartment. The interviewer followed this method after a successful interview was completed. In other cases s/he should have visited the next apartment until an interview was completed. If the interviewer were meeting private houses/plots on the sampling route, he should follow the instructions as indicated above and to have visited every fifth household. Interviews were held only in buildings that contained residences. Exceptions were those buildings (private hospitals, shops, restaurants, etc.), where one or more families permanently resided. The interviewer must allowed the supervisor to have been informed of and coordinated with him any changes that were concerned with the route that occurred during the fieldwork.

The sample size for Georgia is N=1500 and includes the national population aged 18 years and over for both sexes.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

Length of interviews - Report each instrument separately - Report quartiles and interquartile range as well as median and mean Issues with survey instrument - Problems with particular questions - -for each question why was this problematic - Problems with length No serious problem that could cause the quality of the interviewing process was encountered either during the interviewing or due to the length of the surveys.

Response rate

Reason Cases No one at home 2146 Refusal from the family member 343 Refusal from the respondent 243 Respondents could not communicate (health related problems, language related problems, etc) 31 Respondent was not at home 311 Respondent is out of home during duration of the fieldwork 48 Termination of interview 0 Completed interview 1500

Sampling error estimates

+/- 2,6%

Abstract

The World Values Survey (www.worldvaluessurvey.org) is a global network of social scientists studying changing values and their impact on social and political life, led by an international team of scholars, with the WVS association and secretariat headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. The survey, which started in 1981, seeks to use the most rigorous, high-quality research designs in each country. The WVS consists of nationally representative surveys conducted in almost 100 countries which contain almost 90 percent of the world’s population, using a common questionnaire. The WVS is the largest non-commercial, cross-national, time series investigation of human beliefs and values ever executed, currently including interviews with almost 400,000 respondents. Moreover the WVS is the only academic study covering the full range of global variations, from very poor to very rich countries, in all of the world’s major cultural zones. The WVS seeks to help scientists and policy makers understand changes in the beliefs, values and motivations of people throughout the world. Thousands of political scientists, sociologists, social psychologists, anthropologists and economists have used these data to analyze such topics as economic development, democratization, religion, gender equality, social capital, and subjective well-being. These data have also been widely used by government officials, journalists and students, and groups at the World Bank have analyzed the linkages between cultural factors and economic development.

Geographic coverage

China

Analysis unit

Household Individual

Universe

National Population, Both sexes,18 and more years

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Sample size: 1000

The sample is a representative national sample of China containing 40 county/city sample units to collect individual level data of, from a political cultural perspective, the values and attitudes currently held by Chinese citizens. With considerations of representativeness, feasibility, and budgetary constrains, it was decided this project would draw a subsidiary probability sample out of a master sample that RCCC created based on its previous national survey on environmental awareness of the general public in China conducted in 1998. The Environmental Awareness Survey, which was used as a master sample, was a national survey conducted through out the entire country. The target population was the same as the one defined for this survey. Through the stratification, the proportionally allocated multi-stage PPS (probability proportional to size) technique was employed in order to obtain the self-weighted household samples. There were different stages in the sampling procedure: Counties and county-level cities are taken as primary sampling units (PSUs). Family households are the basic sampling unit. Demographic data at all levels was obtained from The Demographic Data for Chinese Cities and Counties, 1997, published by the State Bureau of Statistics.

Nation wide, there were 2,860 county-level units for the first stage sampling (including 1,689 counties, 436 county-level cities, and 735 urban district--with administrative rank equivalent to county--in large cities). The total households were 337,659,447. This was the base for establishing the sampling frames. Some readjustments: Taking into account of cost and accessibility, only the provincial capitals (Lhasa and Urumchi) and their surrounding areas in Tibet and Sinkiang were included in the sampling frame; in other remote western provinces, a few areas that are extremely hard to access were left out as well. After such readjustment the sampling frame then includes 2,708 county-level units, of which the total households are 322,002,173. Compared to the target population, there was a 5.3% reduction (152 units) in the first stage sampling units. However, since the population density in the remote areas of the western provinces is very low, the reduction counts merely 1.4% of the total households in the sampling frame. Geographical administrative divisions of China were regarded as the primary labels of stratification, that is, each province was treated as an independent stratum. Allocation of target sampling units among the sampling stages was designed as following: 135 PSUs out of the first sampling (county-level) units; 2 secondary sampling (townshiplevel) units in each of the PSUs; then 2 third sampling (village-level) units in each of the SSUs; 25 households in each of the third sampling units, on average. Based on the proportional stratification principle, sample allocation to strata was proportional to the size of each stratum, by an equal probability of f = .0042%. Within each stratum (province), sample sizes were calculated and allocated proportionally to each of the sampling stages. A self-weighted national sample thus was obtained.

Multi-stage PPS: -The first stage: equidistance PPS was employed to draw the county sample. -The second stage: in each of the chosen county-level units, a sampling frame was created based on the data of townships/ward and size measurement; then the equidistance PPS is employed to choose the township/streets sample. -The third stage: a third sampling frame was obtained from each of the chosen township-level units (neighbourhoods, villages and size measurement), and, again, the equidistance PPS is employed to choose the village/neighbourhood sample. -The fourth stage: in each of the chosen village/neighbourhood units, the official list of households registration was obtained; using the size measurement of this unit and the desired number of households to count the sampling distance, then households were selected according to the sampling interval. Since the household registration also listed all family members of each of the household, respondents were drawn randomly immediately after the household drawing. The WVS-China sample was drawn out of the above described master sample.

Some readjustments: Primarily because of the budgetary constrains of the WVS project, six remote provinces in the master sample were excluded. They were: Hainan, Tibet, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, and Sinkiang. These provinces are all with very low population density, and all together they count 5.1% of the total population and 4.6% of total households of the country. After the adjustments, seven of the 139 county-level units of the master sample were removed. Therefore, the target 40 PSUs were to be drawn out of the remaining 132 units.

Sampling Stages: -The first stage: 40 units were drawn from 132 county-level units of the master sample were removed. Therefore, the 40 PSUs were to be drawn out of the remaining 132 units. -The second stage: one unit was chosen randomly out of the 2 original township-level units (SSUs) in each of the 40 selected PSUs. -The third stage: one unit was chosen randomly out of the 2 original village-level units in each of the selected SSUs. -The fourth stage: from each of the chosen village-level units, 35 households were drawn out of the household registration list with equidistance, along with one respondent in each selected household.

Remarks about sampling: -Sample unit from office sampling: Housing

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

As a participating country-team of the World Values Survey (WVS), the Research Center of Contemporary China (RCCC) at Peking University implemented the WVS-China survey in 2001. The target population covers those who are between 18 and 65 of age (born between July 2, 1935 and July 1, 1982), formally registered and actually reside in dowelings within the households in China when the survey is conducted.

Response rate

The sample size was determined to be approximately 1,000 -- eligible individuals are to be drawn out of the above defined target population in China. Based on previous experience of response rate, it was decided to increase the target sample to 1,400 in order to reach a satisfied response rate. The final results are summarized as follows: - Target sample size: 1,400 - Sample drawn in the field: 1,385 - Completed, valid interviews: 1,000 - Response rate: 72.2% Summary of Non-Responses Types of Non-Responses (missing cases) % - Be away/not seen for several times: 145-37.7% - Be away for long time/be on a business trip/go abroad/travel:138-35.8% - The interviewer didnt write the reason: 23-6.0% - Rejection: 19-4.9% - Move/investigation reveals no this person: 15-3.9% - Impediments in body or language/at variance with qualification: 12-3.1% - Useless: 11-2.9% - Address is nor clear/cant find the address: 10-2.6% - A vacant house: 6-1.6% - Tenant: 6-1.6% - Total: 385-100%

Sampling error estimates

Estimated Error: 3,2

Mogadishu in Somalia led the ranking of cities with the highest population density in 2023, with ****** residents per square kilometer. When it comes to countries, Monaco is the most densely populated state worldwide.

Abstract

Gallup Worldwide Research continually surveys residents in more than 150 countries, representing more than 98% of the world's adult population, using randomly selected, nationally representative samples. Gallup typically surveys 1,000 individuals in each country, using a standard set of core questions that has been translated into the major languages of the respective country. In some regions, supplemental questions are asked in addition to core questions. Face-to-face interviews are approximately 1 hour, while telephone interviews are about 30 minutes. In many countries, the survey is conducted once per year, and fieldwork is generally completed in two to four weeks. The Country Dataset Details spreadsheet displays each country's sample size, month/year of the data collection, mode of interviewing, languages employed, design effect, margin of error, and details about sample coverage.

Gallup is entirely responsible for the management, design, and control of Gallup Worldwide Research. For the past 70 years, Gallup has been committed to the principle that accurately collecting and disseminating the opinions and aspirations of people around the globe is vital to understanding our world. Gallup's mission is to provide information in an objective, reliable, and scientifically grounded manner. Gallup is not associated with any political orientation, party, or advocacy group and does not accept partisan entities as clients. Any individual, institution, or governmental agency may access the Gallup Worldwide Research regardless of nationality. The identities of clients and all surveyed respondents will remain confidential.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

SAMPLING AND DATA COLLECTION METHODOLOGY With some exceptions, all samples are probability based and nationally representative of the resident population aged 15 and older. The coverage area is the entire country including rural areas, and the sampling frame represents the entire civilian, non-institutionalized, aged 15 and older population of the entire country. Exceptions include areas where the safety of interviewing staff is threatened, scarcely populated islands in some countries, and areas that interviewers can reach only by foot, animal, or small boat.

Telephone surveys are used in countries where telephone coverage represents at least 80% of the population or is the customary survey methodology (see the Country Dataset Details for detailed information for each country). In Central and Eastern Europe, as well as in the developing world, including much of Latin America, the former Soviet Union countries, nearly all of Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, an area frame design is used for face-to-face interviewing.

The typical Gallup Worldwide Research survey includes at least 1,000 surveys of individuals. In some countries, oversamples are collected in major cities or areas of special interest. Additionally, in some large countries, such as China and Russia, sample sizes of at least 2,000 are collected. Although rare, in some instances the sample size is between 500 and 1,000. See the Country Dataset Details for detailed information for each country.

FACE-TO-FACE SURVEY DESIGN

FIRST STAGE In countries where face-to-face surveys are conducted, the first stage of sampling is the identification of 100 to 135 ultimate clusters (Sampling Units), consisting of clusters of households. Sampling units are stratified by population size and or geography and clustering is achieved through one or more stages of sampling. Where population information is available, sample selection is based on probabilities proportional to population size, otherwise simple random sampling is used. Samples are drawn independent of any samples drawn for surveys conducted in previous years.

There are two methods for sample stratification:

METHOD 1: The sample is stratified into 100 to 125 ultimate clusters drawn proportional to the national population, using the following strata: 1) Areas with population of at least 1 million 2) Areas 500,000-999,999 3) Areas 100,000-499,999 4) Areas 50,000-99,999 5) Areas 10,000-49,999 6) Areas with less than 10,000

The strata could include additional stratum to reflect populations that exceed 1 million as well as areas with populations less than 10,000. Worldwide Research Methodology and Codebook Copyright © 2008-2012 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved. 8

METHOD 2:

A multi-stage design is used. The country is first stratified by large geographic units, and then by smaller units within geography. A minimum of 33 Primary Sampling Units (PSUs), which are first stage sampling units, are selected. The sample design results in 100 to 125 ultimate clusters.

SECOND STAGE

Random route procedures are used to select sampled households. Unless an outright refusal occurs, interviewers make up to three attempts to survey the sampled household. To increase the probability of contact and completion, attempts are made at different times of the day, and where possible, on different days. If an interviewer cannot obtain an interview at the initial sampled household, he or she uses a simple substitution method. Refer to Appendix C for a more in-depth description of random route procedures.

THIRD STAGE

Respondents are randomly selected within the selected households. Interviewers list all eligible household members and their ages or birthdays. The respondent is selected by means of the Kish grid (refer to Appendix C) in countries where face-to-face interviewing is used. The interview does not inform the person who answers the door of the selection criteria until after the respondent has been identified. In a few Middle East and Asian countries where cultural restrictions dictate gender matching, respondents are randomly selected using the Kish grid from among all eligible adults of the matching gender.

TELEPHONE SURVEY DESIGN

In countries where telephone interviewing is employed, random-digit-dial (RDD) or a nationally representative list of phone numbers is used. In select countries where cell phone penetration is high, a dual sampling frame is used. Random respondent selection is achieved by using either the latest birthday or Kish grid method. At least three attempts are made to reach a person in each household, spread over different days and times of day. Appointments for callbacks that fall within the survey data collection period are made.

PANEL SURVEY DESIGN

Prior to 2009, United States data were collected using The Gallup Panel. The Gallup Panel is a probability-based, nationally representative panel, for which all members are recruited via random-digit-dial methodology and is only used in the United States. Participants who elect to join the panel are committing to the completion of two to three surveys per month, with the typical survey lasting 10 to 15 minutes. The Gallup Worldwide Research panel survey is conducted over the telephone and takes approximately 30 minutes. No incentives are given to panel participants. Worldwide Research Methodology and Codebook Copyright © 2008-2012 Gallup, Inc. All rights reserved. 9

Research instrument

QUESTION DESIGN

Many of the Worldwide Research questions are items that Gallup has used for years. When developing additional questions, Gallup employed its worldwide network of research and political scientists1 to better understand key issues with regard to question development and construction and data gathering. Hundreds of items were developed, tested, piloted, and finalized. The best questions were retained for the core questionnaire and organized into indexes. Most items have a simple dichotomous ("yes or no") response set to minimize contamination of data because of cultural differences in response styles and to facilitate cross-cultural comparisons.

The Gallup Worldwide Research measures key indicators such as Law and Order, Food and Shelter, Job Creation, Migration, Financial Wellbeing, Personal Health, Civic Engagement, and Evaluative Wellbeing and demonstrates their correlations with world development indicators such as GDP and Brain Gain. These indicators assist leaders in understanding the broad context of national interests and establishing organization-specific correlations between leading indexes and lagging economic outcomes.

Gallup organizes its core group of indicators into the Gallup World Path. The Path is an organizational conceptualization of the seven indexes and is not to be construed as a causal model. The individual indexes have many properties of a strong theoretical framework. A more in-depth description of the questions and Gallup indexes is included in the indexes section of this document. In addition to World Path indexes, Gallup Worldwide Research questions also measure opinions about national institutions, corruption, youth development, community basics, diversity, optimism, communications, religiosity, and numerous other topics. For many regions of the world, additional questions that are specific to that region or country are included in surveys. Region-specific questions have been developed for predominantly Muslim nations, former Soviet Union countries, the Balkans, sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, China and India, South Asia, and Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

The questionnaire is translated into the major conversational languages of each country. The translation process starts with an English, French, or Spanish version, depending on the region. One of two translation methods may be used.

METHOD 1: Two independent translations are completed. An independent third party, with some knowledge of survey research methods, adjudicates the differences. A professional translator translates the final version back into the source language.

METHOD 2: A translator

Nigeria has the largest population in Africa. As of 2025, the country counted over 237.5 million individuals, whereas Ethiopia, which ranked second, has around 135.5 million inhabitants. Egypt registered the largest population in North Africa, reaching nearly 118.4 million people. In terms of inhabitants per square kilometer, Nigeria only ranked seventh, while Mauritius had the highest population density on the whole African continent in 2023. The fastest-growing world region Africa is the second most populous continent in the world, after Asia. Nevertheless, Africa records the highest growth rate worldwide, with figures rising by over two percent every year. In some countries, such as Niger, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Chad, the population increase peaks at over three percent. With so many births, Africa is also the youngest continent in the world. However, this coincides with a low life expectancy. African cities on the rise The last decades have seen high urbanization rates in Asia, mainly in China and India. However, African cities are currently growing at larger rates. Indeed, most of the fastest-growing cities in the world are located in Sub-Saharan Africa. Gwagwalada, in Nigeria, and Kabinda, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, ranked first worldwide. By 2035, instead, Africa's fastest-growing cities are forecast to be Bujumbura, in Burundi, and Zinder, Nigeria.

Monaco led the ranking for countries with the highest population density in 2024, with nearly 26,000 residents per square kilometer. The Special Administrative Region of Macao came in second, followed by Singapore. The world’s second smallest country Monaco is the world’s second-smallest country, with an area of about two square kilometers and a population of only around 40,000. It is a constitutional monarchy located by the Mediterranean Sea, and while Monaco is not part of the European Union, it does participate in some EU policies. The country is perhaps most famous for the Monte Carlo casino and for hosting the Monaco Grand Prix, the world's most prestigious Formula One race. The global population Globally, the population density per square kilometer is about 60 inhabitants, and Asia is the most densely populated region in the world. The global population is increasing rapidly, so population density is only expected to increase. In 1950, for example, the global population stood at about 2.54 billion people, and it reached over eight billion during 2023.

In 2025, the degree of urbanization worldwide was at 58 percent. North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean were the regions with the highest level of urbanization, with over four-fifths of the population residing in urban areas. The degree of urbanization defines the share of the population living in areas defined as "cities". On the other hand, less than half of Africa's population lives in urban settlements. Globally, China accounts for over one-quarter of the built-up areas of more than 500,000 inhabitants. The definition of a city differs across various world regions - some countries count settlements with 100 houses or more as urban, while others only include the capital of a country or provincial capitals in their count. Largest agglomerations worldwideThough North America is the most urbanized continent, no U.S. city was among the top ten urban agglomerations worldwide in 2023. Tokyo-Yokohama in Japan was the largest urban area in the world that year, with 37.7 million inhabitants. New York ranked 13th, with 21.4 million inhabitants. Eight of the 10 most populous cities are located in Asia. ConnectivityIt may be hard to imagine how the reality will look in 2050, with 70 percent of the global population living in cities, but some statistics illustrate the ways urban living differs from suburban and rural living. American urbanites may lead more “connected” (i.e., internet-connected) lives than their rural and/or suburban counterparts. As of 2021, around 89 percent of people living in urban areas owned a smartphone. Internet usage was also higher in cities than in rural areas. On the other hand, rural areas always have, and always will, attract those who want to escape the rush of the city.

Globally, about 25 percent of the population is under 15 years of age and 10 percent is over 65 years of age. Africa has the youngest population worldwide. In Sub-Saharan Africa, more than 40 percent of the population is below 15 years, and only three percent are above 65, indicating the low life expectancy in several of the countries. In Europe, on the other hand, a higher share of the population is above 65 years than the population under 15 years. Fertility rates The high share of children and youth in Africa is connected to the high fertility rates on the continent. For instance, South Sudan and Niger have the highest population growth rates globally. However, about 50 percent of the world’s population live in countries with low fertility, where women have less than 2.1 children. Some countries in Europe, like Latvia and Lithuania, have experienced a population decline of one percent, and in the Cook Islands, it is even above two percent. In Europe, the majority of the population was previously working-aged adults with few dependents, but this trend is expected to reverse soon, and it is predicted that by 2050, the older population will outnumber the young in many developed countries. Growing global population As of 2025, there are 8.1 billion people living on the planet, and this is expected to reach more than nine billion before 2040. Moreover, the global population is expected to reach 10 billions around 2060, before slowing and then even falling slightly by 2100. As the population growth rates indicate, a significant share of the population increase will happen in Africa.

Nigeria is the African country with the largest population, counting over 230 million people. As of 2024, the largest city in Nigeria was Lagos, which is also the largest city in sub-Saharan Africa in terms of population size. The city counts more than nine million inhabitants, whereas Kano, the second most populous city, registers around 3.6 million inhabitants. Lagos is the main financial, cultural, and educational center in the country. Where Africa’s urban population is booming The metropolitan area of Lagos is also among the largest urban agglomerations in the world. Besides Lagos, another most populated citiy in Africa is Cairo, in Egypt. However, Africa’s urban population is booming in other relatively smaller cities. For instance, the population of Bujumbura, in Burundi, could grow by 123 percent between 2020 and 2035, making it the fastest growing city in Africa and likely in the world. Similarly, Zinder, in Niger, could reach over one million inhabitants by 2035, the second fastest growing city. Demographic urban shift More than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. In the next decades, this will increase, especially in Africa and Asia. In 2020, over 80 percent of the population in Northern America was living in urban areas, the highest share in the world. In Africa, the degree of urbanization was about 40 percent, the lowest among all continents. Meeting the needs of a fast-growing population can be a challenge, especially in low-income countries. Therefore, there will be a growing necessity to implement policies to sustainably improve people’s lives in rural and urban areas.

In 2023, Washington, D.C. had the highest population density in the United States, with 11,130.69 people per square mile. As a whole, there were about 94.83 residents per square mile in the U.S., and Alaska was the state with the lowest population density, with 1.29 residents per square mile. The problem of population density Simply put, population density is the population of a country divided by the area of the country. While this can be an interesting measure of how many people live in a country and how large the country is, it does not account for the degree of urbanization, or the share of people who live in urban centers. For example, Russia is the largest country in the world and has a comparatively low population, so its population density is very low. However, much of the country is uninhabited, so cities in Russia are much more densely populated than the rest of the country. Urbanization in the United States While the United States is not very densely populated compared to other countries, its population density has increased significantly over the past few decades. The degree of urbanization has also increased, and well over half of the population lives in urban centers.

The Vatican City, often called the Holy See, has the smallest population worldwide, with only *** inhabitants. It is also the smallest country in the world by size. The islands Niue, Tuvalu, and Nauru followed in the next three positions. On the other hand, India is the most populous country in the world, with over *** billion inhabitants.

This statistic shows the 25 largest counties in the United States in 2022, by population. In 2022, about 9.72 million people were estimated to be living in Los Angeles County, California.

Additional information on urbanization in the United States

Urbanization is defined as the process by which cities grow or by which societies become more urban. Rural to urban migration in the United States, and around the world, is often undertaken in the search for employment or to enjoy greater access to services such as healthcare. The largest cities in the United States are steadily growing. Given their size, incremental increases yield considerable numerical gains as seen by New York increasing by 69,777 people in 2011, the most of any city. However in terms of percentage growth, smaller cities outside the main centers are growing the fastest, such as Georgetown city and Leander city in Texas.

Urbanization has increased slowly in the United States, rising from 80.77 percent of the population living in urban areas in 2010 to 82.66 percent in 2020. In 2018, the United States ranked 14th in a ranking of countries based on their degree of urbanization. Unlike fully urbanized countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong, the United States maintains a sizeable agricultural industry. Although technological developments have reduced demands for rural labor, labor in the industry and supporting services are still required.

Which county has the most Facebook users? There are more than 383 million Facebook users in India alone, making it the leading country in terms of Facebook audience size. To put this into context, if India’s Facebook audience were a country, then it would be ranked third in terms of largest population worldwide. Apart from India, there are several other markets with more than 100 million Facebook users each: The United States, Indonesia, and Brazil with 196.9 million, 122.3 million, and 111.65 million Facebook users respectively. Facebook – the most used social media Meta, the company that was previously called Facebook, owns four of the most popular social media platforms worldwide, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Facebook, and Instagram. As of the third quarter of 2021, there were around 3.5 billion cumulative monthly users of the company’s products worldwide. With around 2.9 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the most popular social media worldwide. With an audience of this scale, it is no surprise that the vast majority of Facebook’s revenue is generated through advertising. Facebook usage by device As of July 2021, it was found that 98.5 percent of active users accessed their Facebook account from mobile devices. In fact, almost 81.8 percent of Facebook audiences worldwide access the platform only via mobile phone. Facebook is not only available through mobile browser as the company has published several mobile apps for users to access their products and services. As of the third quarter 2021, the four core Meta products were leading the ranking of most downloaded mobile apps worldwide, with WhatsApp amassing approximately six billion downloads.

Based on a comparison of coronavirus deaths in 210 countries relative to their population, Peru had the most losses to COVID-19 up until July 13, 2022. As of the same date, the virus had infected over 557.8 million people worldwide, and the number of deaths had totaled more than 6.3 million. Note, however, that COVID-19 test rates can vary per country. Additionally, big differences show up between countries when combining the number of deaths against confirmed COVID-19 cases. The source seemingly does not differentiate between "the Wuhan strain" (2019-nCOV) of COVID-19, "the Kent mutation" (B.1.1.7) that appeared in the UK in late 2020, the 2021 Delta variant (B.1.617.2) from India or the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) from South Africa.

The difficulties of death figures

This table aims to provide a complete picture on the topic, but it very much relies on data that has become more difficult to compare. As the coronavirus pandemic developed across the world, countries already used different methods to count fatalities, and they sometimes changed them during the course of the pandemic. On April 16, for example, the Chinese city of Wuhan added a 50 percent increase in their death figures to account for community deaths. These deaths occurred outside of hospitals and went unaccounted for so far. The state of New York did something similar two days before, revising their figures with 3,700 new deaths as they started to include “assumed” coronavirus victims. The United Kingdom started counting deaths in care homes and private households on April 29, adjusting their number with about 5,000 new deaths (which were corrected lowered again by the same amount on August 18). This makes an already difficult comparison even more difficult. Belgium, for example, counts suspected coronavirus deaths in their figures, whereas other countries have not done that (yet). This means two things. First, it could have a big impact on both current as well as future figures. On April 16 already, UK health experts stated that if their numbers were corrected for community deaths like in Wuhan, the UK number would change from 205 to “above 300”. This is exactly what happened two weeks later. Second, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly which countries already have “revised” numbers (like Belgium, Wuhan or New York) and which ones do not. One work-around could be to look at (freely accessible) timelines that track the reported daily increase of deaths in certain countries. Several of these are available on our platform, such as for Belgium, Italy and Sweden. A sudden large increase might be an indicator that the domestic sources changed their methodology.

Where are these numbers coming from?

The numbers shown here were collected by Johns Hopkins University, a source that manually checks the data with domestic health authorities. For the majority of countries, this is from national authorities. In some cases, like China, the United States, Canada or Australia, city reports or other various state authorities were consulted. In this statistic, these separately reported numbers were put together. For more information or other freely accessible content, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

In 2024, Russia had the largest population among European countries at ***** million people. The next largest countries in terms of their population size were Turkey at **** million, Germany at **** million, the United Kingdom at **** million, and France at **** million. Europe is also home to some of the world’s smallest countries, such as the microstates of Liechtenstein and San Marino, with populations of ****** and ****** respectively. Europe’s largest economies Germany was Europe’s largest economy in 2023, with a Gross Domestic Product of around *** trillion Euros, while the UK and France are the second and third largest economies, at *** trillion and *** trillion euros respectively. Prior to the mid-2000s, Europe’s fourth-largest economy, Italy, had an economy that was of a similar sized to France and the UK, before diverging growth patterns saw the UK and France become far larger economies than Italy. Moscow and Istanbul the megacities of Europe Two cities on the eastern borders of Europe were Europe’s largest in 2023. The Turkish city of Istanbul, with a population of 15.8 million, and the Russian capital, Moscow, with a population of 12.7 million. Istanbul is arguably the world’s most famous transcontinental city with territory in both Europe and Asia and has been an important center for commerce and culture for over 2,000 years. Paris was the third largest European city with a population of ** million, with London being the fourth largest at *** million.