The World's Most Populous Countries

train station in world's most populated country — *A crowd of passengers near a Beijing train station. (AP Photo)*

This table provides figures about the 50 most populous nations in the world as of 2021. China is the most populous country with nearly 1.4 billion residents. Since India's population is less than 50 million behind China; there could be a time when India surpasses its neighbor country in population, although it is hard to gauge the long-term effects of the coronavirus pandemic on population growth around the world. The estimated world population is 7.8 billion as of 2021.

RANK	COUNTRY	POPULATION
1	China The majority of the population is located in the eastern half of the country. Its dependency Hong Kong would, by itself, rank around 100 in a list of countries.	1,402,756,160
2	India A very high population density exists throughout the country, apart from the deserts in the northwest and the mountains in the north.	1,362,549,958
3	United States Very densely populated urban areas are clustered along the east and the west coasts. California and Texas, the two most populous states, account for about one quarter of the population.	329,731,224
4	Indonesia Java is one of the most densely populated areas in the world.	266,911,900
5	Pakistan The Punjab province is the most densely populated area in Pakistan.	220,892,331
6	Brazil Most residents live along the Atlantic coast in the eastern part of the nation.	211,557,363
7	Nigeria Nigeria isthe most populous country in Africa. It recently became the continent's largest economy as well.	206,139,587
8	Bangladesh Bangladesh is not just one of the most populous countries but is also one of the most densely populated countries in the world.	168,653,220
9	Russia Siberia has a population density of approximately three people per kilometer. Siberia has one-twelfth of the world's land mass.	146,745,098
10	Mexico Approximately a quarter of the population lives in and around Mexico City.	126,577,691
11	Japan The population is most dense along the coasts, due in part to the islands' mountains and the distribution of arable land.	125,960,000
12	Philippines The Philippines population finally surpassed 100 million in 2014.	108,658,985
13	Egypt Approximately 95 percentof the population lives within 20 kilometers of the Nile River and its delta.	100,411,615
14	Ethiopia The median age in Ethiopia is just under 18 years, making it one of the youngest countries (despite the country itself being very old).	98,665,000
15	Vietnam Kinh people, or "ethnic vietnamese" account for about 85% of Vietnam's population, but are concentrated in only half of the country. There are 53 other recognized ethnic groups in Vietnam.	95,354,000
16	Congo, Dem. Rep. The country is the world's largest francophone country. French might be the most common, as it's taught in schools, but it shares the stage with more than 200 other local languages.	89,561,404
17	Iran Azerbaijanis constitute almost a quarter of the population. The nation's population is concentrated in the north, northwest, and west.	83,467,474
18	Turkey The population is densest around Istanbul, but the largest share of the population actually lives on the south coast.	83,154,997
19	Germany Germany is the most populous country in Europe, with especially high concentration along the Rhine.	82,003,882
20	France The largest concentrations of population in France are located in the north and the southeast, clustered around a few major historic cities.	66,992,000
21	United Kingdom The United Kingdom's population density is one of the highest in the world, centered in the capital city of London.	66,796,807
22.	Thailand Thailand has actually lost ranking on the list due to a highly successful government effort to reduce the growth rate.	66,507,980
23	Italy Unlike a lot of other countries, the population of Italy is pretty evenly distributed throughout the country.	60,238,522
24	South Africa South Africa has received a steady rate of immigration for the past two decades, mainly from other African countries.	58,775,022
25	Tanzania The population of Tanzania is highly concentrated at the edges of the country, on the northern border or the coast. Dar es Salaam houses over 10% of the population.	57,637,628
26	Myanmar The population of Myanmar is actually a bit difficult to pin down, due to various problems with the census-taking. Official estimates in the early 2010s placed the population much higher.	54,817,919
27	South Korea More than 70 percent of the country is mountainous so most of the populated is located in lowland areas.	51,780,579
28	Colombia Most Colombians live in the mountainous western region of the countryor on the northern coastline.	49,395,678
29	Kenya Kenya did not reach the top 50 of the of most populated countries until the 1970s.	47,564,296
30	Spain The largest urban populations are found near the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts--aside from the populous areas of Madrid, Sevilla and Zaragoza.	47,100,396
31	Argentina Roughly one third of the Argentinianpopulation lives in Buenos Aires.	44,938,712
32	Algeria Most of the population is located along the Mediterranean Coast in the north, with very sparse population in the desert south.	43,378,027
33	Sudan Northern Sudan is sparsely populated aside from an area near the banks of the Nile.	42,177,579
34	Ukraine Ukraine actually used to rank higher on the list, prior to Russia's annexation of Crimea.	41,922,670
35	Uganda Uganda hosts over 1 million refugees, making up ~2.5% of the population.	41,590,300
36	Iraq If one were to include Iraqis who were displaced or moved since the 2003 invasion, Iraq would rank up to ten spots higher.	40,150,200
37	Poland Nearly two thirds of Poland lives in urban areas, making it one of the most urbanized countries on the list.	38,379,000
38	Canada The most populated province in Canada is Ontario, followed by Quebec and British Columbia.	38,037,578
39	Morocco Roughly half a million people live in the disputed area of Western Sahara.	35,904,918
40	Saudi Arabia The population in Saudi Arabia has changed incredibly rapidly; in the past 60 years, the country went from being a majority nomadic to having 80% of the population live in just ten cities.	34,218,169
41	Uzbekistan Uzbekistan, aside from having a large Uzbek population, has a major historic Korean community. Many Koreans were relocated by the Soviets in the 1930s, and have lived in Uzbekistan ever since.	34,196,694
42	Malaysia Eighty percent of the population resides on the Malay Peninsula.	32,787,760
43	Afghanistan Afghanistan has the highest fertility rate of any country outside of Africa.	32,225,560
44	Venezuela The official figure here has actually been revised in some reports to a much lower figure as a result of recent troubles in Venezuela.	32,219,521
45	Peru Over a quarter of the Peruvian population is identified as Amerindian, mainly Quechua.	32,131,400
46	Angola The capital Luanda houses about 10% of the country's population, and is ten times larger than the next largest city.	31,127,674
47	Ghana The coastal areas, the Ashanti region, and the two principal cities, Accra and Kumasi are among the most densely populated parts of the country.	30,280,811
48	Mozambique Less than half of Mozambique speaks their official language, Portuguese, as a first or second language.	30,066,648
49	Nepal Nepal's overall population density is low. The two areas of concentrated population include the southern plains of the Tarai region and hillycentral part of the country.	29,996,478
50	Yemen The majority of the population is found in the Asir Mountains in the west.	29,825,968