Context

The world's population has undergone remarkable growth, exceeding 7.5 billion by mid-2019 and continuing to surge beyond previous estimates. Notably, China and India stand as the two most populous countries, with China's population potentially facing a decline while India's trajectory hints at surpassing it by 2030. This significant demographic shift is just one facet of a global landscape where countries like the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Nigeria, and others, each with populations surpassing 100 million, play pivotal roles.

The steady decrease in growth rates, though, is reshaping projections. While the world's population is expected to exceed 8 billion by 2030, growth will notably decelerate compared to previous decades. Specific countries like India, Nigeria, and several African nations will notably contribute to this growth, potentially doubling their populations before rates plateau.

Content

This dataset provides comprehensive historical population data for countries and territories globally, offering insights into various parameters such as area size, continent, population growth rates, rankings, and world population percentages. Spanning from 1970 to 2023, it includes population figures for different years, enabling a detailed examination of demographic trends and changes over time.

Dataset

Structured with meticulous detail, this dataset offers a wide array of information in a format conducive to analysis and exploration. Featuring parameters like population by year, country rankings, geographical details, and growth rates, it serves as a valuable resource for researchers, policymakers, and analysts. Additionally, the inclusion of growth rates and world population percentages provides a nuanced understanding of how countries contribute to global demographic shifts.

This dataset is invaluable for those interested in understanding historical population trends, predicting future demographic patterns, and conducting in-depth analyses to inform policies across various sectors such as economics, urban planning, public health, and more.

Structure

This dataset (world_population_data.csv) covering from 1970 up to 2023 includes the following columns:

Acknowledgment

The primary dataset was retrieved from the World Population Review. I sincerely thank the team for providing the core data used in this dataset.

© Image credit: Freepik

Historical chart and dataset showing World population growth rate by year from 1961 to 2023.

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.

Historical chart and dataset showing total population for the world by year from 1950 to 2025.

1970-2000 decennial census results by 27 census areas conformed to 2000 Census geography. Dataset consists of 611 variables covering demography, employment, education, income, mobility, and housing.

Original dataset The original year-2019 dataset was downloaded from the World Bank Databank by the following approach on July 23, 2022.

Database: "World Development Indicators" Country: 266 (all available) Series: "CO2 emissions (kt)", "GDP (current US$)", "GNI, Atlas method (current US$)", and "Population, total" Time: 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 Layout: Custom -> Time: Column, Country: Row, Series: Column Download options: Excel

Preprocessing

With libreoffice,

remove non-country entries (lines after Zimbabwe), shorten column names for easy processing: Country Name -> Country, Country Code -> Code, "XXXX ... GNI ..." -> GNI_1990, etc (notice '_', not '-', for R), remove unnesssary rows after line Zimbabwe.

Aim: Toxoplasma gondii is a ubiquitous zoonotic parasite that can infect warm-blooded vertebrates, including humans. Felids, the definitive hosts, drive T. gondii infections by shedding the environmentally resistant stage of the parasite (oocysts) in their feces. Risk factors for oocyst shedding are well-documented in domestic cats under controlled settings, but few studies characterize the role of climate and anthropogenic factors in oocyst shedding among free-ranging felids, which are responsible for the majority of environmental contamination. We aimed to determine how climate and anthropogenic factors influence the level of oocyst shedding in free-ranging domestic cats and wild felids. Location: Global Time period: 1973-2021 Major taxa studied: Felidae, Toxoplasma gondii Methods: We used generalized linear mixed models to determine the association between climatic, ecological, and anthropogenic factors and T. gondii oocyst shedding in free-ranging felids. T. gondii oocyst shedding data from 47 studies were compiled for domestic cats and 6 wild felid species, encompassing 256 positive samples out of 9,635 total fecal samples. Results: T. gondii shedding prevalence in domestic cats and wild felids was positively associated with human population density at the sampling location. Average annual temperature and total precipitation were not associated with increased shedding, however, temperature variables that reflected fluctuation on a smaller timescale were associated with oocyst shedding. Larger mean diurnal range was associated with higher T. gondii oocyst shedding prevalence in domestic cats, while higher temperatures in the driest quarter were associated with lower oocyst shedding in wild felids. Main conclusions: Anthropogenic factors associated with increasing human population density and climate change in the form of temperature fluctuation can exacerbate environmental contamination with the protozoan parasite T. gondii. Direct or indirect management of free-ranging domestic cats could lower the burden of environmental oocysts due to their large population sizes and close affinity with human settlements. Methods Dataset was collected using systematic review. For studies that met inclusion criteria, we extracted metadata including the year of publication, type of felid sampled (domestic/wild), country of study, continent, diagnostic method, number of positive fecal samples, total fecal samples tested, and approximate latitude and longitude of the sample site as reported by the authors for each study. We repeated this process in studies with multiple species of sampled felids. Our primary variables of interest were annual mean temperature, annual precipitation, and human population density. Additionally, we considered other climate variables, such as maximum temperature, mean diurnal range and precipitation seasonality, as well as human activity variables such as habitat type and species richness for inclusion in subsequent models (Table 1). For each study, we used the R package ‘raster’ with a World Geodetic System 1984 projection and a 2.5 km buffer to obtain location-specific data. Climate data (temperature and precipitation variables) was extracted at a 5 km resolution from the WorldClim 2.0 (1970-2000) dataset, while human population density and human footprint data at a 5 km resolution was extracted from the NASA Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN). Human population density was paired to each study by the closest time period (2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020). Habitat type was extracted at a resolution of 1 km, and species richness at 110 m from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (Jung et al. 2020). WorldClim 2.0 https://www.worldclim.org/data/worldclim21.html NASA CIESIN https://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/data/collection/gpw-v4 IUCN Jung et al. 2020 https://zenodo.org/record/3666246#.YroIni9XZpR

This World Marriage Dataset provides a comparable and up-to-date set of data on the marital status of the population by age and sex for 232 countries or different regions of the world from 1970 to 2019. There are 271605 rows and 9 columns in this dataset. Each row of the dataset represents a specific age group of men, either divorced or married or Single. The columns include:

Sr. No.: A serial number to identify each entry. Country: The country of focus. Age Group: The age range of the surveyed individuals. Sex: The gender of the surveyed individuals. Marital Status: The marital status of the individuals, categorized as either "Divorced" or "Married" or "Single". Data Process: The method used to collect the data. Data Collection (Start Year): The year when data collection began. Data Collection (End Year): The year when data collection ended. Data Source: The source of the data. This dataset helps to understand the marital status distribution among different age groups of men and women in all over the world from 1970 to 2019.

The Latin America population database is part of an ongoing effort to improve global, spatially referenced demographic data holdings. Such databases are useful for a variety of applications including strategic-level agricultural research and applications in the analysis of the human dimensions of global change.

 This documentation describes the Latin American Population Database, a
 collaborative effort between the International Center for Tropical
 Agriculture (CIAT), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP-GRID,
 Sioux Falls) and the World Resources Institute (WRI). This work is
 intended to provide a population database that compliments previous
 work carried out for Asia and Africa. This data set is more detailed
 than the Africa and Asia data sets. Population estimates for 1960,
 1970, 1980, 1990 and 2000 are also provided. The work discussed in the
 following paragraphs is also related to NCGIA activities to produce a
 global database of subnational population estimates (Tobler et
 al. 1995), and an improved database for the Asian continent (Deichmann
 1996a).

This dataset contains country level economic and social measures for 183 countries. Part 1, World Tables (1980 File), contains, where available, measures of (1)population, (2)national accounts and price data for 1950, 1955, 1960 through 1977, (3)data on external trade for 1962, 1965, 1970, and 1977, (4)data on balance of payments, debt, central government finance and trade indices for 1970-1977, and (5)social data for 1960, 1970, and (estimated) 1977. More specifically, the groupings include population, GDP by industrial origin and expenditures in constant local prices and current local prices, exchange rates and indices, balance of payments and external debt ($US), central government finance in local currency, social indicators, and external trade. Part 2, World Tables (1982 File), contains data on national accounts, prices, exchange rates and population for 1960-1981. The groupings include GDP by industrial origin as well as expenditure in current local prices and constant local prices, area, population, exchange rates, and indices and savings.

Historical chart and dataset showing World life expectancy by year from 1950 to 2025.

IT: Population: Male: Ages 50-54: % of Male Population data was reported at 8.183 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 8.110 % for 2016. IT: Population: Male: Ages 50-54: % of Male Population data is updated yearly, averaging 6.344 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 8.183 % in 2017 and a record low of 4.338 % in 1970. IT: Population: Male: Ages 50-54: % of Male Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Italy – Table IT.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Male population between the ages 50 to 54 as a percentage of the total male population.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on age/sex distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; ;

Historical chart and dataset showing World death rate by year from 1950 to 2025.

This data set contains decadal (1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990 and 1995) estimates of gridded fossil-fuel emissions, expressed in 1,000 metric tons C per year per one degree latitude by one degree longitude. The CO2 emissions are the summed emissions from fossil-fuel burning, hydraulic cement production and gas flaring. The years 1950 to 1990 were developed and compiled using somewhat different procedures and information than the 1995 data. The national annual estimates (Boden et al., 1996) from 1950 to 1990 were allocated to one degree grid cells based on gridded information on national boundaries and political units, and a 1984 gridded human population map (Andres et al., 1996). For the 1995 data, the population data base developed by Li (1996a) and documented by CDIAC (DB1016: Li, 1996b) was used as proxy to grid the 1995 emission estimates. There is one *.zip data file with this data set at 1.0 degree spatial resolution.

Abstract

This file contains data on Gini coefficients, cumulative quintile shares, explanations regarding the basis on which the Gini coefficient was computed, and the source of the information. There are two data-sets, one containing the "high quality" sample and the other one including all the information (of lower quality) that had been collected.

The database was constructed for the production of the following paper:

Deininger, Klaus and Lyn Squire, "A New Data Set Measuring Income Inequality", The World Bank Economic Review, 10(3): 565-91, 1996.

This article presents a new data set on inequality in the distribution of income. The authors explain the criteria they applied in selecting data on Gini coefficients and on individual quintile groups’ income shares. Comparison of the new data set with existing compilations reveals that the data assembled here represent an improvement in quality and a significant expansion in coverage, although differences in the definition of the underlying data might still affect intertemporal and international comparability. Based on this new data set, the authors do not find a systematic link between growth and changes in aggregate inequality. They do find a strong positive relationship between growth and reduction of poverty.

Geographic coverage

In what follows, we provide brief descriptions of main features for individual countries that are included in the data-base. Without being comprehensive, these notes are intended to indicate some of the considerations underlying our decision to include or exclude certain observations.

Argentina Various permanent household surveys, all covering urban centers only, have been regularly conducted since 1972 and are quoted in a wide variety of sources and years, e.g., for 1980 (World Bank 1992), 1985 (Altimir 1994), and 1989 (World Bank 1992). Estimates for 1963, 1965, 1969/70, 1970/71, 1974, 1975, 1980, and 1981 (Altimir 1987) are based only on Greater Buenos Aires. Estimates for 1961, 1963, 1970 (Jain 1975) and for 1970 (van Ginneken 1984) have only limited geographic coverage and do not satisfy our minimum criteria.

Despite the many urban surveys, there are no income distribution data that are representative of the population as a whole. References to national income distribution for the years 1953, 1959, and 1961(CEPAL 1968 in Altimir 1986 ) are based on extrapolation from national accounts and have therefore not been included. Data for 1953 and 1961 from Weisskoff (1970) , from Lecaillon (1984) , and from Cromwell (1977) are also excluded.

Australia Household surveys, the result of which is reported in the statistical yearbook, have been conducted in 1968/9, 1975/6, 1978/9, 1981, 1985, 1986, 1989, and 1990.

Data for 1962 (Cromwell, 1977) and 1966/67 (Sawyer 1976) were excluded as they covered only tax payers. Jain's data for 1970 was excluded because it covered income recipients only. Data from Podder (1972) for 1967/68, from Jain (1975) for the same year, from UN (1985) for 78/79, from Sunders and Hobbes (1993) for 1986 and for 1989 were excluded given the availability of the primary sources. Data from Bishop (1991) for 1981/82, from Buhman (1988) for 1981/82, from Kakwani (1986) for 1975/76, and from Sunders and Hobbes (1993) for 1986 were utilized to test for the effect of different definitions. The values for 1967 used by Persson and Tabellini and Alesina and Rodrik (based on Paukert and Jain) are close to the ones reported in the Statistical Yearbook for 1969.

Austria: In addition to data referring to the employed population (Guger 1989), national household surveys for 1987 and 1991 are included in the LIS data base. As these data do not include income from self-employment, we do not report them in our high quality data-set.

Bahamas Data for Ginis and shares are available for 1973, 1977, 1979, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, and 1993 in government reports on population censuses and household budget surveys, and for 1973 and 1975 from UN (1981). Estimates for 1970 (Jain 1975), 1973, 1975, 1977, and 1979 (Fields 1989) have been excluded given the availability of primary sources.

Bangladesh Data from household surveys for 1973/74, 1976/77, 1977/78, 1981/82, and 1985/86 are available from the Statistical Yearbook, complemented by household-survey based information from Chen (1995) and the World Development Report. Household surveys with rural coverage for 1959, 1960, 1963/64, 1965, 1966/67 and 1968/69, and with urban coverage for 1963/64, 1965, 1966/67, and 1968/69 are also available from the Statistical yearbook. Data for 1963/64 ,1964 and 1966/67, (Jain 1975) are not included due to limited geographic coverage, We also excluded secondary sources for 1973/74, 1976/77, 1981/82 (Fields 1989), 1977 (UN 1981), 1983 (Milanovic 1994), and 1985/86 due to availability of the primary source.

Barbados National household surveys have been conducted in 1951/52 and 1978/79 (Downs, 1988). Estimates based on personal tax returns, reported consistently for 1951-1981 (Holder and Prescott, 1989), had to be excluded as they exclude the non-wage earning population. Jain's figure (used by Alesina and Rodrik) is based on the same source.

Belgium Household surveys with national coverage are available for 1978/79 (UN 1985), and for 1985, 1988, and 1992 (LIS 1995). Earlier data for 1969, 1973, 1975, 1976 and 1977 (UN 1981) refer to taxable households only and are not included.

Bolivia The only survey with national coverage is the 1990 LSMS (World Development Report). Surveys for 1986 and 1989 cover the main cities only (Psacharopoulos et al. 1992) and are therefore not included. Data for 1968 (Cromwell 1977) do not refer to a clear definition and is therefore excluded.

Botswana The only survey with national coverage was conducted in 1985-1986 (Chen et al 1993); surveys in 74/75 and 85/86 included rural areas only (UN 1981). We excluded Gini estimates for 1971/72 that refer to the economically active population only (Jain 1975), as well as 1974/75 and 1985/86 (Valentine 1993) due to lack of national coverage or consistency in definition.

Brazil Data from 1960, 1970, 1974/75, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1987 and 1989 are available from the statistical yearbook, in addition to data for 1978 (Fields 1987) and for 1979 (Psacharopoulos et al. 1992). Other sources have been excluded as they were either not of national coverage, based on wage earners only, or because a more consistent source was available.

Bulgaria: Data from household surveys are available for 1963-69 (in two year intervals), for 1970-90 (on an annual basis) from the Statistical yearbook and for 1991 - 93 from household surveys by the World Bank (Milanovic and Ying).

Burkina Faso A priority survey has been undertaken in 1995.

Central African Republic: Except for a household survey conducted in 1992, no information was available.

Cameroon The only data are from a 1983/4 household budget survey (World Bank Poverty Assessment).

Canada Gini- and share data for the 1950-61 (in irregular intervals), 1961-81 (biennially), and 1981-91 (annually) are available from official sources (Statistical Yearbook for years before 1971 and Income Distributions by Size in Canada for years since 1973, various issues). All other references seem to be based on these primary sources.

Chad: An estimate for 1958 is available in the literature, and used by Alesina and Rodrik and Persson and Tabellini but was not included due to lack of primary sources.

Chile The first nation-wide survey that included not only employment income was carried out in 1968 (UN 1981). This is complemented by household survey-based data for 1971 (Fields 1989), 1989, and 1994. Other data that refer either only to part of the population or -as in the case of a long series available from World Bank country operations- are not clearly based on primary sources, are excluded.

China Annual household surveys from 1980 to 1992, conducted separately in rural and urban areas, were consolidated by Ying (1995), based on the statistical yearbook. Data from other secondary sources are excluded due to limited geographic and population coverage and data from Chen et al (1993) for 1985 and 1990 have not been included, to maintain consistency of sources..

Colombia The first household survey with national coverage was conducted in 1970 (DANE 1970). In addition, there are data for 1971, 1972, 1974 CEPAL (1986), and for 1978, 1988/89, and 1991 (World Bank Poverty Assessment 1992 and Chen et al. 1995). Data referring to years before 1970 -including the 1964 estimate used in Persson and Tabellini were excluded, as were estimates for the wage earning population only.

Costa Rica Data on Gini coefficients and quintile shares are available for 1961, 1971 (Cespedes 1973),1977 (OPNPE 1982), 1979 (Fields 1989), 1981 (Chen et al 1993), 1983 (Bourguignon and Morrison 1989), 1986 (Sauma-Fiatt 1990), and 1989 (Chen et al 1993). Gini coefficients for 1971 (Gonzalez-Vega and Cespedes in Rottenberg 1993), 1973 and 1985 (Bourguignon and Morrison 1989) cover urban areas only and were excluded.

Cote d'Ivoire: Data based on national-level household surveys (LSMS) are available for 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1995. Information for the 1970s (Schneider 1991) is based on national accounting information and therefore excluded

Cuba Official information on income distribution is limited. Data from secondary sources are available for 1953, 1962, 1973, and 1978, relying on personal wage income, i.e. excluding the population that is not economically active (Brundenius 1984).

Czech Republic Household surveys for 1993 and 1994 were obtained from Milanovic and Ying. While it is in principle possible to go back further, splitting national level surveys for the former Czechoslovakia into their independent parts, we decided not to do so as the same argument could be used to

Finland FI: Population: Growth data was reported at 0.291 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.287 % for 2016. Finland FI: Population: Growth data is updated yearly, averaging 0.399 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.781 % in 1960 and a record low of -0.379 % in 1970. Finland FI: Population: Growth data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Finland – Table FI.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Annual population growth rate for year t is the exponential rate of growth of midyear population from year t-1 to t, expressed as a percentage . Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.; ; Derived from total population. Population source: (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision, (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Weighted average;

New Caledonia NC: Population: Growth data was reported at 1.404 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 1.512 % for 2016. New Caledonia NC: Population: Growth data is updated yearly, averaging 1.909 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 7.411 % in 1970 and a record low of 0.725 % in 1979. New Caledonia NC: Population: Growth data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s New Caledonia – Table NC.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Annual population growth rate for year t is the exponential rate of growth of midyear population from year t-1 to t, expressed as a percentage . Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.; ; Derived from total population. Population source: (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision, (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Weighted average;