Until the 1800s, population growth was incredibly slow on a global level. The global population was estimated to have been around 188 million people in the year 1CE, and did not reach one billion until around 1803. However, since the 1800s, a phenomenon known as the demographic transition has seen population growth skyrocket, reaching eight billion people in 2023, and this is expected to peak at over 10 billion in the 2080s.

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.

The world's population first reached one billion people in 1805, and reached eight billion in 2022, and will peak at almost 10.2 billion by the end of the century. Although it took thousands of years to reach one billion people, it did so at the beginning of a phenomenon known as the demographic transition; from this point onwards, population growth has skyrocketed, and since the 1960s the population has increased by one billion people every 12 to 15 years. The demographic transition sees a sharp drop in mortality due to factors such as vaccination, sanitation, and improved food supply; the population boom that follows is due to increased survival rates among children and higher life expectancy among the general population; and fertility then drops in response to this population growth. Regional differences The demographic transition is a global phenomenon, but it has taken place at different times across the world. The industrialized countries of Europe and North America were the first to go through this process, followed by some states in the Western Pacific. Latin America's population then began growing at the turn of the 20th century, but the most significant period of global population growth occurred as Asia progressed in the late-1900s. As of the early 21st century, almost two-thirds of the world's population lives in Asia, although this is set to change significantly in the coming decades. Future growth The growth of Africa's population, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, will have the largest impact on global demographics in this century. From 2000 to 2100, it is expected that Africa's population will have increased by a factor of almost five. It overtook Europe in size in the late 1990s, and overtook the Americas a few years later. In contrast to Africa, Europe's population is now in decline, as birth rates are consistently below death rates in many countries, especially in the south and east, resulting in natural population decline. Similarly, the population of the Americas and Asia are expected to go into decline in the second half of this century, and only Oceania's population will still be growing alongside Africa. By 2100, the world's population will have over three billion more than today, with the vast majority of this concentrated in Africa. Demographers predict that climate change is exacerbating many of the challenges that currently hinder progress in Africa, such as political and food instability; if Africa's transition is prolonged, then it may result in further population growth that would place a strain on the region's resources, however, curbing this growth earlier would alleviate some of the pressure created by climate change.

The world population surpassed eight billion people in 2022, having doubled from its figure less than 50 years previously. Looking forward, it is projected that the world population will reach nine billion in 2038, and 10 billion in 2060, but it will peak around 10.3 billion in the 2080s before it then goes into decline. Regional variations The global population has seen rapid growth since the early 1800s, due to advances in areas such as food production, healthcare, water safety, education, and infrastructure, however, these changes did not occur at a uniform time or pace across the world. Broadly speaking, the first regions to undergo their demographic transitions were Europe, North America, and Oceania, followed by Latin America and Asia (although Asia's development saw the greatest variation due to its size), while Africa was the last continent to undergo this transformation. Because of these differences, many so-called "advanced" countries are now experiencing population decline, particularly in Europe and East Asia, while the fastest population growth rates are found in Sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, the roughly two billion difference in population between now and the 2080s' peak will be found in Sub-Saharan Africa, which will rise from 1.2 billion to 3.2 billion in this time (although populations in other continents will also fluctuate). Changing projections The United Nations releases their World Population Prospects report every 1-2 years, and this is widely considered the foremost demographic dataset in the world. However, recent years have seen a notable decline in projections when the global population will peak, and at what number. Previous reports in the 2010s had suggested a peak of over 11 billion people, and that population growth would continue into the 2100s, however a sooner and shorter peak is now projected. Reasons for this include a more rapid population decline in East Asia and Europe, particularly China, as well as a prolonged development arc in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Population figures for countries, regions (e.g. Asia) and the world. Data comes originally from World Bank and has been converted into standard CSV.

Population, female (% of total population) in World was reported at 49.72 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. World - Population, female (% of total) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on September of 2025.

The Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11 consists of estimates of human population density (number of persons per square kilometer) based on counts consistent with national censuses and population registers, for the years 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020. A proportional allocation gridding algorithm, utilizing approximately 13.5 million national and sub-national administrative units, was used to assign population counts to 30 arc-second grid cells. The population density rasters were created by dividing the population count raster for a given target year by the land area raster. The data files were produced as global rasters at 30 arc-second (~1 km at the equator) resolution.

Purpose: To provide estimates of population density for the years 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020, based on counts consistent with national censuses and population registers, as raster data to facilitate data integration.

Recommended Citation(s)*: Center for International Earth Science Information Network - CIESIN - Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. Palisades, NY: NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). https://doi.org/10.7927/H49C6VHW. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR.

The Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11 consists of estimates of human population density (number of persons per square kilometer) based on counts consistent with national censuses and population registers, for the years 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020.�A proportional allocation gridding algorithm, utilizing approximately 13.5 million national and sub-national administrative Units, was used to assign population counts to 30 arc-second grid cells. The population density rasters were created by dividing the population count raster for a given target year by the land area raster. The data files were produced as global rasters at 30 arc-second (~1 km at the equator) resolution. To enable faster global processing, and in support of research commUnities, the 30 arc-second count data were aggregated to 2.5 arc-minute, 15 arc-minute, 30 arc-minute and 1 degree resolutions to produce density rasters at these resolutions.

Population growth (annual %) in World was reported at 0.9512 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. World - Population growth (annual %) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on October of 2025.

The Global Population Density Grid Time Series Estimates provide a back-cast time series of population density grids based on the year 2000 population grid from SEDAC's Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project, Version 1 (GRUMPv1) data set. The grids were created by using rates of population change between decades from the coarser resolution History Database of the Global Environment (HYDE) database to back-cast the GRUMPv1 population density grids. Mismatches between the spatial extent of the HYDE calculated rates and GRUMPv1 population data were resolved via infilling rate cells based on a focal mean of values. Finally, the grids were adjusted so that the population totals for each country equaled the UN World Population Prospects (2008 Revision) estimates for that country for the respective year (1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000). These data do not represent census observations for the years prior to 2000, and therefore can at best be thought of as estimations of the populations in given locations. The population grids are consistent internally within the time series, but are not recommended for use in creating longer time series with any other population grids, including GRUMPv1, Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4), or non-SEDAC developed population grids. These population grids served as an input to SEDAC's Global Estimated Net Migration Grids by Decade: 1970-2000 data set.

The USA: Percent of world population: The latest value from 2023 is 4.2 percent, a decline from 4.21 percent in 2022. In comparison, the world average is 0.51 percent, based on data from 196 countries. Historically, the average for the USA from 1960 to 2023 is 4.93 percent. The minimum value, 4.2 percent, was reached in 2023 while the maximum of 6.04 percent was recorded in 1961.

The average for 2023 based on 196 countries was 0.51 percent. The highest value was in India: 17.94 percent and the lowest value was in Andorra: 0 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Graph and download economic data for Population, Total for United States (POPTOTUSA647NWDB) from 1960 to 2024 about population and USA.

Before 2025, the world's total population is expected to reach eight billion. Furthermore, it is predicted to reach over 10 billion in 2060, before slowing again as global birth rates are expected to decrease. Moreover, it is still unclear to what extent global warming will have an impact on population development. A high share of the population increase is expected to happen on the African continent.

The Gridded Population of the World, Version 3 (GPWv3): Population Count Grid, Future Estimates consists of estimates of human population for the years 2005, 2010, and 2015 by 2.5 arc-minute grid cells and associated data sets dated circa 2000. A proportional allocation gridding algorithm, utilizing more than 300,000 national and sub-national administrative Units, is used to assign population values to grid cells. The population counts that the grids are derived from are extrapolated based on a combination of subnational growth rates from census dates and national growth rates from United Nations statistics. All of the grids have been adjusted to match United Nations national level population estimates. The population count grids contain estimates of the number of persons per grid cell. The grids are available in various GIS-compatible data formats and geographic extents (global, continent [Antarctica not included], and country levels). GPWv3 is produced by the Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) in collaboration with Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT).

Population ages 25-29, male (% of male population) in World was reported at 7.5306 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. World - Population ages 25-29, male (% of male population) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on October of 2025.

Dataset Description: Worldometer Data Introduction This dataset contains detailed information on the population statistics of various countries, compiled from Worldometer. It includes demographic data such as yearly population changes, migration numbers, fertility rates, and urbanization metrics over multiple years.

Dataset Overview Total Entries: 4,104 Total Columns: 14 Columns Description country (object):

The name of the country. Example: 'India', 'China'. year (float64):

The year for which the data is recorded. Example: 2024, 2023. population (object):

The total population for the given year. Example: '1,441,719,852', '1,428,627,663'. yearly_change_pct (object):

The percentage change in population from the previous year. Example: '0.92%', '0.81%'. yearly_change (object):

The absolute change in population from the previous year. Example: '13,092,189', '11,454,490'. migrants (object):

The net number of migrants for the given year. Example: '-486,784', '-486,136'. median_age (object):

The median age of the population. Example: '28.6', '28.2'. fertility_rate (object):

The fertility rate for the given year. Example: '1.98', '2.00'. density_p_km2 (object):

The population density per square kilometer. Example: '485', '481'. urban_pop_pct (object):

The percentage of the population living in urban areas. Example: '36.8%', '36.3%'. urban_pop (object):

The total urban population for the given year. Example: '530,387,142', '518,239,122'. share_of_world_pop_pct (object):

The country's share of the world's population as a percentage. Example: '17.76%', '17.77%'. world_pop (object):

The total world population for the given year. Example: '8,118,835,999', '8,045,311,447'. global_rank (float64):

The global population rank of the country for the given year. Example: '1.0', '2.0'. Data Quality Missing Values:

Some columns have missing values which need to be handled before analysis. Columns with significant missing data: year, population, yearly_change_pct, yearly_change, migrants, median_age, fertility_rate, density_p_km2, urban_pop_pct, urban_pop, share_of_world_pop_pct, world_pop, global_rank. Data Types:

Most columns are of type object due to the presence of commas and percentage signs. Conversion to appropriate numeric types (e.g., integers, floats) is required for analysis. Potential Uses Demographic Analysis: Study population growth trends, migration patterns, and changes in fertility rates. Urbanization Studies: Analyze urban population growth and density changes over time. Global Ranking: Evaluate and compare the population statistics of different countries. Conclusion This dataset provides a comprehensive view of the world population trends over the years. Cleaning and preprocessing steps, including handling missing values and converting data types, will be necessary to prepare the data for analysis. This dataset can be valuable for researchers, demographers, and data scientists interested in population studies and demographic trends.

File Details Filename: worldometer_data.csv Size: 4104 rows x 14 columns Format: CSV Source Website: Worldometer Scraped Using: Scrapy

Graph and download economic data for Population Growth for the United States (SPPOPGROWUSA) from 1961 to 2024 about population, rate, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Population Ages 15 to 64 for World (SPPOP1564TOZSWLD) from 1960 to 2024 about 15 to 64 years and population.

Students will explore the patterns of world population in terms of total population, arithmetic density, total fertility rate, natural increase rate, and infant mortality rate. The activity uses a web-based map.Learning outcomes:Students will be able to identify and explain the spatial patterns and distribution of world population based on total population, density, total fertility rate, natural increase rate, and infant mortality rate.Other New Zealand GeoInquiry instructional material freely available at https://arcg.is/1GPDXe