The key facts
- Seven countries — India, China, the USA, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria and Brazil — account for about 51.2% of the world's population
- The world's population as of October 2025 is estimated at 8.25 billion people
- India is growing (+12.9 million over the year), China is shrinking (−3.25 million)
Seven countries are home to more than half the planet
Calculations by DataReportal, prepared on the basis of UN data for the report Digital 2026 Global Overview Report, show an extreme unevenness in how people are distributed across the planet: just seven countries are home to more than 4 billion people, or about 51.2% of the world's population. That is more than all the other countries of the world combined.
Who makes the list
First place belongs to India with a population of roughly 1.48 billion, followed by China with 1.41 billion. These two Asian countries account for almost 35% of the planet's inhabitants. Next come the United States (about 349 million), Indonesia (288 million), Pakistan (260 million), Nigeria (243 million), and rounding out the list is Brazil with 213 million people.
Different demographic trajectories
The total population of the Earth as of October 2025 is estimated at about 8.25 billion people, and the report notes that India has overtaken China to become the world's most populous country. The dynamics within the seven are uneven: India, Pakistan and Nigeria continue to grow, while China's population is shrinking. According to DataReportal's calculations, in the 12 months up to October 2025 China's population declined by about 3.25 million people, while India's grew by almost 12.9 million. These figures confirm that India's leadership is not a one-off shift but the result of a sustained divergence in the demographic trends of the two largest countries.
