How recent are these population figures?

They are approximate UN mid-year estimates rounded to the nearest convenient figure. Populations change continuously through births, deaths and migration, so treat values as the order-of-magnitude reference rather than a live census count.

How is population density calculated?

Density here is population divided by total area in square kilometres, giving people per km². Some sources use land area instead of total area, which raises density for countries with large water bodies, so small differences between sources are expected.

Why do China and India rank so close together?

Both have populations above 1.4 billion. India overtook China around 2023 as the most populous country, while China's population has begun to decline slowly, so the two are within a few tens of millions of each other.

Which countries are the most densely populated?

City-states and micro-states such as Monaco and Singapore have the highest densities because they pack large populations into tiny areas. Among larger countries, Bangladesh stands out with a very high density.

Are dependent territories included?

This reference focuses on sovereign states. Dependent territories and special administrative regions are generally excluded or folded into their parent state, so totals here are for independent countries.

Country Population Reference

Country population reference

This reference shows approximate UN population estimates for major countries alongside their population density in people per square kilometre. It answers everyday questions like “how many people live in Nigeria?” and “which country is most densely populated?” without needing to open a statistical yearbook.

How it works

Each country entry carries a population figure and a total area. The tool derives density with a simple formula:

density = population / area_km2

Population values are mid-year UN estimates rounded for readability; area is total area in square kilometres. Sorting by population reveals the demographic giants — countries above one billion, then the 100–300 million tier, down to smaller states. Sorting by name gives a plain alphabetical lookup.

Because populations are estimates that drift over time, the tool is best for ranking and rough magnitude rather than exact head-counts. Density is sensitive to whether total or land area is used, so values are indicative.

Tips and example

India and China each exceed 1.4 billion people; together they hold over a third of humanity.
A small high-density state like Singapore (~5.9M people in ~735 km²) has a density of roughly 8,000 people per km² — orders of magnitude above a sparse country like Australia at around 3 per km².
Use the density column to compare crowding, not raw size: a populous country can still be sparsely settled if its land area is huge.
For exact, current figures (e.g. for compliance or grant work), confirm against the latest national census or UN World Population Prospects release.

Country Population Reference

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Country population reference

How it works

Tips and example