15 Striking Population Statistics Worldwide

Okay, you probably know that China has a lot of people.  And you probably know that Tuvalu doesn’t have that many.  Or maybe you never even heard of Tuvalu.  But you get the point.  Beyond these broad concepts, analyzing the world’s population of 7.8 billion people can provide fascinating insight into the distribution of mankind.  As a disclaimer, we realize that borders are arbitrary, occasionally drawn at a body of water or a mountain range, but sometimes drawn at a language barrier or just because people decided to hate each other.  With that in mind, here are 15 striking population statistics worldwide.

 

Africa

• Africa is massive, large enough to fit the land area of the U.S., China, India, Japan, and most of Europe combined.  But with 1.3 billion people, it has a lower population than India alone.
• One-sixth of Africa’s population lives on 3% of its land area, namely Nigeria.

 

Antarctica

Yes, people apparently live here.  Villa Las Estrellas is the larger of two civilian settlements, with 150 summer residents and 80 winter residents.

 

Asia

• Asia is essentially a beast.  Almost 60% of the world’s population lives on this continent.  Did we hear investment opportunity?
• Of the world’s 25 most-populated cities, 17 are in Asia.  (Istanbul, which straddles Europe and Asia, is included.)
• Surprisingly, Asia is also home to the least densely populated sovereign nation in the world.  Any guesses? We’re referring to Mongolia.  The figure is 2 residents per square kilometer, or 5.4 per square mile.  As a frame of reference, Singapore has 20,446 residents per square mile.

 

Europe

• Europe lays claim to the world’s smallest country, namely Vatican City.  We’re talking about 801 residents or so.
• The national populations of Vatican City, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and Andorra combined are less than that of Akron, Ohio.

 

North America

• North America accounts for 7.4% of the world’s population but 27% of the world’s nominal GDP.
• The two-island nation St. Kitts and Nevis boasts a population of about 53,000, approximately the same as Blue Springs, Missouri,

 

Oceania

• The population of all of Oceania is around 42 million.  That’s 0.5% of the world’s population.  That’s also not much more than California.
• The 30th most-populated country in Asia (Tajikistan) would be the second most-populated in Oceania (behind Australia).

 

South America

• Suriname has less people than Oklahoma City (586,632 vs. 655,057).
• About half of South America’s 432 million residents live in Brazil.

 

And the last statistic.  We are all about 0.00000001% of the world’s population.  So no need to take ourselves so seriously.