1.

The world’s population reached 8.2 billion people in 2024. It has increased eightfold within 2 centuries and is likely to continue growing, perhaps even reaching 10 billion by the end of the 21st century. How is the world’s population distributed? Which countries have the highest fertility rates? And where is life expectancy the longest? Every 2 years, Population & Societies publishes an issue entitled ‘The Population of the World’, which presents an overview of the demographic situation worldwide based on estimates and projections from the United Nations.

The data shown in the main central table relates to all geo­political entities with a population of 150,000 inhabitants or more, and to several others. Sovereign states are listed alongside non-sovereign territories, including France’s overseas departments, regions, and collectivities. Countries and entities are named and listed following the United Nations system of classification by region and continent [1].

The demographic indicators are the same as those used in earlier editions: land area, mid-2024 population estimate, birth and death rates, infant mortality rate, total fertility rate, percentage of population under 15 and over 65, male and female life expectancy at birth, and gross national income per capita adjusted for purchasing power parity.¹ Most of the indicators are estimates, since vital statistics and survey data are not yet available for the year 2024.

In the eighteen smaller tables, countries or entities are ranked based on an indicator, in increasing or decreasing order. In Tables 1–7, a world total is given, and a line separates the countries which together account for more than half of that total. For example, in Table 2, the seven most populated countries (India, China, United States, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Brazil) represent a total population of 4.2 billion inhabitants, or more than half of the world’s population, estimated at 8.2 billion. The countries appearing in Tables 8–18 have been filtered by combining various criteria, such as the countries at the top and bottom of the rankings, the most densely ­populated countries, the largest countries, French-speaking countries, etc. In Table 10, the countries are ranked by mortality rate. It may seem surprising that with 8 deaths per 1,000 inhabitants in 2024, Burkina Faso ranked higher than Japan, with 12 per 1,000. The relatively low number of deaths in Burkina Faso reflects the fact that its population is very young, with a very low proportion of old people, while the opposite is true in Japan. Estimated life expectancy, which takes account of population age distribution, gives a more accurate picture of mortality differences (Table 12). Japan ranks 1st here, with the highest life expectancy in the world (85 years), while Burkina Faso lies close to the bottom of the table (61 years). In Table 17, the countries are ranked by the proportion of 15- to 64-year-olds in the total population. This gives an idea of the size of the working-age population. It is particularly high in the small Persian Gulf states, which host a large population of immigrant workers living without their families, and in countries where fertility has plunged to low levels (Spain, Russia, South Korea, China, and Iran). The population pyramids for these countries have narrowed at the base, while their peaks remain very sharp. Their shape will change, however, with the proportion of the population aged 15–64 likely to decrease due to population ageing.