Population by Country (2026)

The three most populous countries are India (1,480,388,901), China (1,411,975,640), United States (349,540,579); the three least populous are Vatican City (1,329), Niue (2,637), Tokelau (3,539).

The gap between the top and the bottom of the table is a factor of about 1,113,912. The median country sits at 5,721,628 and the simple average across all 238 countries is 34,963,424 — the average is pulled up by a few very large values.

Over roughly the last decade the biggest increases were in Tokelau (+122.7%), Mayotte (+47%), Seychelles (+44.1%), while the largest decreases were in Saint Martin (-34.4%), Marshall Islands (-25.6%), U.S. Virgin Islands (-21.9%).

By continent, the leaders are India in Asia (1,480,388,901), Russia in Europe (143,296,789), Nigeria in Africa (243,856,688), United States in North America (349,540,579), Brazil in South America (213,781,511), Australia in Oceania (27,300,762).

The live figure starts from the United Nations estimate for 1 January of the current year and advances it using the annual growth rate, so it is a statistical extrapolation rather than a count. Rankings use the same live estimate for every country, which keeps them consistent with each other.

Source: UN World Population Prospects (live extrapolation). Countries without a published value are not ranked. Each country's own page shows the full historical series and its rank on this and every other indicator.