| Population | 7,772,850,805 (July 2021 est.) top ten most populous countries (in millions): China 1397.89; India 1339.33; United States 334.99; Indonesia 275.12; Pakistan 238.18; Nigeria 219.47; Brazil 213.45; Bangladesh 164.1; Russia 142.32; Japan 124.69 ten least populous countries: Holy See (Vatican City) 1,000; Saint Pierre and Miquelon 5,321; Montserrat 5,387; Saint Barthelemy 7,116; Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan de Cunha 7,915; Cook Islands 8,327; Nauru 9,770; Tuvalu 11,448; Wallis and Futuna 15,851; Anguilla 18,403 ten most densely populated countries (population per sq km): Macau 22,514; Monaco 15,611; Singapore 8,273; Hong Kong 6,769; Gaza Strip 5,436; Gibraltar 4,216; Bahrain 2,009; Malta 1,458; Bermuda 1,335; Maldives 1,311 ten least densely populated countries (population per sq km): Greenland .027; Falkland Islands .26; Mongolia 2.1; Namibia 3.3; Australia 3.4; Iceland 3.5; Suriname 3.9; Mauritania 4; Libya 4; Guyana 4 |
| Languages | most-spoken language: English 16.5%, Mandarin Chinese 14.6%, Hindi 8.3%, Spanish 7%, French 3.6%, Arabic 3.6%, Bengali 3.4%, Russian 3.4%, Portuguese 3.3%, Indonesian 2.6% (2020 est.) note 1: the six UN languages - Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, Russian, and Spanish (Castilian) - are the mother tongue or second language of about 45% of the world's population, and are the official languages in more than half the states in the world; some 400 languages have more than a million first-language speakers (2018) note 2: all told, there are estimated to be just over 7,115 languages spoken in the world (2020); approximately 80% of these languages are spoken by less than 100,000 people; about 150 languages are spoken by fewer than 10 people; communities that are isolated from each other in mountainous regions often develop multiple languages; Papua New Guinea, for example, boasts about 840 separate languages (2018) note 3: approximately 2,300 languages are spoken in Asia, 2,140, in Africa, 1,310 in the Pacific, 1,060 in the Americas, and 290 in Europe (2020) |
| Religions | Christian 31.1%, Muslim 24.9%, Hindu 15.2%, Buddhist 6.6%, folk religions 5.6%, Jewish <1%, other <1%, unaffiliated 15.6% (2015 est.) |
| Age structure | 0-14 years: 25.18% (male 1,010,373,278/female 946,624,579)
15-24 years: 15.29% (male 614,046,344/female 574,513,854) 25-54 years: 40.6% (male 1,597,805,095/female 1,557,807,873) 55-64 years: 9.23% (male 351,094,945/female 366,240,730) 65 years and over: 9.69% male 337,244,947/female 415,884,753) (2021 est.) |
| Dependency ratios | total dependency ratio: 53.3 youth dependency ratio: 39 elderly dependency ratio: 14.3 potential support ratio: 7 (2020 est.) |
| Median age | total: 31 years male: 30.3 years female: 31.8 years (2020 est.) |
| Population growth rate | 1.03% (2021 est.) note: this rate results in about 154 net additions to the worldwide population every minute or 2.6 every second |
| Birth rate | 18.1 births/1,000 population (2020 est.) note: this rate results in about 259 worldwide births per minute or 4.3 births every second |
| Death rate | 7.7 deaths/1,000 population (2020 est.) note: this rate results in about 108 worldwide deaths per minute or 1.8 deaths every second |
| Population distribution | six of the world's seven continents are widely and permanently inhabited; Asia is easily the most populous continent with about 60% of the world's population (China and India together account for over 35%); Africa comes in second with over 15% of the earth's populace, Europe has about 10%, North America 8%, South America almost 6%, and Oceania less than 1%; the harsh conditions on Antarctica prevent any permanent habitation |
| Urbanization | urban population: 56.6% of total population (2021) rate of urbanization: 1.73% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.) |
| Major cities - population | ten largest urban agglomerations: Tokyo (Japan) - 37,393,000; New Delhi (India) - 30,291,000; Shanghai (China) - 27,058,000; Sao Paulo (Brazil) - 22,043,000; Mexico City (Mexico) - 21,782,000; Dhaka (Bangladesh) - 21,006,000; Cairo (Egypt) - 20,901,000; Beijing (China) - 20,463,000; Mumbai (India) - 20,411,000; Osaka (Japan) - 19,165,000 (2020) ten largest urban agglomerations, by continent: Africa - Cairo (Egypt) - 20,485,000; Lagos (Nigeria) - 13,904,000; Kinshasha (DRC) - 13,743,000; Luanda (Angola) - 8,045,000; Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania) - 6,368,000; Khartoum (Sudan) - 5,678,000; Johannesburg (South Africa) - 5,635,000; Alexandria (Egypt) - 5,182,000; Abidjan (Cote d'Ivoire) - 5,059,000; Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) - 4,592,000 Asia - Tokyo (Japan) - 37,435,000; New Delhi (India) - 29,399,000; Shanghai (China) - 26,317,000; Dhaka (Bangladesh) - 20,284,000; Mumbai (India) - 20,185,000; Beijing (China) - 20,035,000; Osaka (Japan) - 19,223,000; Karachi (Pakistan) - 15,741,000; Chongqing (China) - 15,354,000; Istanbul (Turkey) - 14,968,000 Europe - Moscow (Russia) - 12,476,000; Paris (France) - 10,958,000; London (United Kingdom) - 9,177,000; Madrid (Spain) - 6,559,000; Barcelona (Spain) - 5,541,000, Saint Petersburg (Russia) - 5,427,000; Rome (Italy) - 4,234,000; Berlin (Germany) - 3,557,000; Athens (Greece) - 3,154,000; Milan (Italy) - 3,136,000 North America - Mexico City (Mexico) - 21,672,000; New York-Newark (United States) - 18,805,000; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana (United States) - 12,448,000; Chicago (United States) - 8,862,000; Houston (United States) - 6,245,000; Dallas-Fort Worth (United States) - 6,201,000; Toronto (Canada) - 6,139,000; Miami (United States) - 6,079,000; Philadelphia (United States) - 5,705,000; Atlanta (United States) - 5,689,000 Oceania - Melbourne (Australia) - 4,870,000, Sydney (Australia) - 4,859,000; Brisbane (Australia) - 2,372,000; Perth (Australia) - 2,016,000; Auckland (New Zealand) - 1,582,000; Adelaide (Australia) - 1,328,000; Gold Coast-Tweed Head (Australia) - 687,000; Canberra (Australia) - 452,000; Newcastle-Maitland (Australia) - 447,000; Wellington (New Zealand) - 413,000 South America - Sao Paulo (Brazil) - 21,847,000; Buenos Aires (Argentina) - 15,057,000; Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) - 13,374,000; Bogota (Colombia) - 10,779,000; Lima (Peru) - 10,555,000; Santiago (Chile) - 6,724,000; Belo Horizonte (Brazil) - 6,028,000; Brasilia (Brazil) - 4,559,000; Porto Alegre (Brazil) - 4,115,000; Recife (Brazil) - 4,078,000 (2019) |
| Sex ratio | at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.07 male(s)/female 15-24 years: 1.07 male(s)/female 25-54 years: 1.03 male(s)/female 55-64 years: 0.96 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.81 male(s)/female total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2020 est.) |
| Maternal mortality rate | 211 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate | total: 30.8 deaths/1,000 live births male: 32.8 deaths/1,000 live births female: 28.6 deaths/1,000 live births (2020 est.) |
| Life expectancy at birth | total population: 70.5 years male: 68.4 years female: 72.6 years (2020 est.) |
| Total fertility rate | 2.42 children born/woman (2020 est.) |
| Drinking water source | improved: urban: 96.5% of population rural: 84.7% of population total: 91.1% of population unimproved: urban: 3.5% of population rural: 15.3% of population total: 8.9% of population (2015 est.) |
| Health expenditures | 10% (2016) |
| Sanitation facility access | improved: urban: 82.3% of population rural: 50.5% of population total: 67.7% of population unimproved: urban: 17.7% of population rural: 49.5% of population total: 32.3% of population (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate | 0.7% (2020 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | 37.7 million (2020 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - deaths | 680,000 (2020 est.) |
| Major infectious diseases | note: widespread ongoing transmission of a respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is occurring globally; older adults and people of any age with serious chronic medical conditions are at increased risk for severe disease; some health care systems are becoming overwhelmed and there may be limited access to adequate medical care in affected areas; many countries are implementing travel restrictions and mandatory quarantines, closing borders, and prohibiting non-citizens from entry with little advance notice; US residents may have difficulty returning to the United States; as of 19 July 2021, 190,671,330 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 4,098,758 deaths have been reported to the World Health Organization; as of 19 July 2021, 26.5% of the World population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine |
| Education expenditures | NA |
| Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 86.3% male: 89.8% female: 82.8% (2018) note: more than three-quarters of the world's 750 million illiterate adults are found in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa; of all the illiterate adults in the world, almost two-thirds are women (2016) |
| School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education) | total: 12 years male: 12 years female: 12 years (2019) |
Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021
