New numbers from the UN and Nick Routley, a data analyst and visual capitalist, show that India will likely pass China as the most populous country in the world by the end of the year.
Humankind is now double the size it was in 1973.
Of course, that growth has been far from uniform, and the ranking of the world's most populous countries continues to evolve.
Using the latest data available from the United Nations, we've looked at which countries have the largest share of the planet's eight billion people.
Here's one of the charts from Nick Routley:
That's 1.43 BILLION people in both India and China at the start of 2023.
If India had a better government, more social cohesion, and a religious framework that wasn't built upon dividing people into sects like "Untouchables," it'd be a formidable world force with these numbers (yeah, I went there).
Here are some other numbers that are important for the future of world politics:
Looking back 50 years ago, Nigeria was the lone African nation in the top 20. Today, it is joined by Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – all of which have experienced staggering population growth.
African nations are expected to lead population growth over the next few decades. By 2100, one quarter of the world's people are expected to be African.
Europe is the flip side of this equation. Back in 1973, there were six European countries in this top list. Today, only Russia and Germany remain, with the latter country soon to fall out of the top 20 ranking.
The world is becoming, by numbers, more and more African and Indian, and less and less European.
The implications of these worldwide demographic changes will be very interesting to follow.
In case you're one of the overpopulation crowd that thinks we need to get rid of all these "excess" people to save the planet or whatever, here's some thought pieces for your Malthusian malfeasance:
