Urban Transformation

The world’s 7.5 billion people, in one chart

This spectacular 'blue marble' image is the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date, using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer of Earth. Much of the information contained in this image came from a single remote-sensing device - NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS.  REUTERS/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Handout   (UNITED STATES)  FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY - GM1DVUYTDEAA

Where in the world is everyone? Image: REUTERS/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Handout

Jeff Desjardins
Founder and editor, Visual Capitalist

Which countries do people live in, globally?

It’s a very simple question, but it’s also hard to get an accurate sense of the answer by browsing through a lengthy table of country-level population data.

That’s because there are close to 200 countries spread around the globe, with populations ranging from near 1.4 billion (China or India) to countries a mere 0.001% of that size. How is it possible to do the mental math in interpreting such a wide range of data points simultaneously?

Visualizing the world’s population

Today’s data visualization comes to us from PopulationPyramid.net, a fantastic resource for data on global population numbers.

It allows us to see the location of the world’s 7.5 billion people by resizing countries based on their populations and then coloring and organizing them by region.

This simple application of data visualization makes it more intuitive to comprehend where people live around the globe, as well as how different countries compare in size.

Regional populations

The first thing you might notice on the graphic is the relative size of regions, with Asia taking up a whopping 60% of the visual space.

Here are those numbers by region broken down further:

When you look at it this way, you can really see how the math breaks down.

About 75% of people reside in Asia or Africa. Meanwhile, the regions of Europe, North America, South America, and Oceania just total together to 25% of the mix.

Have you read?

The 10 most populous countries

There are some countries that are clear standouts on the data visualization.

For example, China and India combine to 2.7 billion people, together accounting for 36% of the total global population.

Those heavyweights aside, there are other notable countries that take up significant amounts of real estate on the visualization as well:

The United States, Indonesia, Brazil, and Pakistan rank between #3 and #6, and have about a billion people between them.

Nigeria, which is #7 on the list, has the world’s fastest growing megacity within its borders. Further, Bangladesh is also a noteworthy entry since it is one of the densest populations globally, with 1,138.9 people per square kilometer of land.

A final look at global population

This isn’t the first time we’ve shown you a data visualization that organizes the global population – here’s one we previously published that shows each country in a bubble chart:

While this uses slightly older data, it is still interesting to see how data visualization can help us understand a complex and wide-ranging set of data that is relevant to everyday life.

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Stay up to date:

Inclusive Growth Framework

Related topics:
Urban TransformationEconomic Growth
Share:
The Big Picture
Explore and monitor how Cities and Urbanization is affecting economies, industries and global issues
A hand holding a looking glass by a lake
Crowdsource Innovation
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
World Economic Forum logo
Global Agenda

The Agenda Weekly

A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda

Subscribe today

You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.

Shaping cities of the future to be inclusive, sustainable and resilient

Christophe Bahuet

November 8, 2024

How cities like Stockholm and London can enhance e-scooter regulation 

About us

Engage with us

  • Sign in
  • Partner with us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for our press releases
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Contact us

Quick links

Language editions

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Sitemap

© 2024 World Economic Forum