Digital 2026: global population trends
The United Nations’s World Population Prospects data shows that there are 8.25 billion people on Earth in October 2025, with that total figure increasing by 69 million people – 0.8 percent – over the past 12 months.
For perspective, the United Nations announced that the world population reached 8 billion people on the 15th of November, 2022, which means that the global total has increased by more than a quarter of a billion people during the past 3 years.
Population growth is slowing
However, the UN’s data also indicates that global population growth is slowing.
Looking back, the global population was growing at an annual rate of roughly 1.2 percent at the start of the 2000s, while the annual growth rate rose as high as 2.3 percent in the early 1960s.
And even compared to more recent trends, the current growth rate is among the lowest we’ve seen during the past decade.
Having said that, current growth rates still translate to the addition of 2.2 people each second, which means that the world’s population has already increased by roughly 80 people since you started reading this article.
And furthermore, the size of the global population has increased by roughly 54 percent since the start of the 1990s.
Mapping population growth
As you might expect, current population growth rates vary considerably by geography.
At the top end of the scale, the United Nations reports that Tokelau saw the fastest rate of population growth over the past twelve months, with the South Pacific archipelago registering year-on-year growth of more than 3.9 percent.
However, Tokelau’s relative growth figure may be somewhat distorted by the small size of its population, which the United Nations’ data suggests is currently approaching 2,600.
The Sultanate of Oman ranks second in the annual growth table with an annual change figure of 3.81 percent, while Syria ranks third, at 3.71 percent.
At the other end of the spectrum, the UN’s data indicates that the Caribbean territory of Saint Martin (the “French part”) experienced the most rapid decline over the past year, with its total population decreasing by more than 4.4 percent.
The Marshall Islands saw the second fastest decline in the UN’s data at 3.4 percent, while the Cook Islands followed a close third.
China’s population is shrinking
But while we’re on the subject of population decline, it’s worth noting that the population of China – the world’s second most populous nation – continues to contract.
The UN’s data indicates that China’s population total fell by 0.23 percent over the past twelve months, resulting in a net reduction of 3.25 million.
For perspective, the annual reduction in China’s population was greater than the total population of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and this figure places China top of the list of countries ranked by absolute population decline.
India extends its lead
Conversely, the number of people living in the world’s most populous nation – India – increased by almost 12.9 million people over the past year.
That 0.89 percent annual gain is the equivalent of adding the entire population of Bolivia, and places India firmly at the top of the rankings of absolute population growth.
In total, 175 countries and territories experienced some level of population growth over the past year, while 66 saw their populations decline.
And for added perspective, 11 countries and territories experienced annual population growth in excess of 3 percent over the past 12 months, while 15 experienced an annual decline in excess of 1 percent.
The world’s largest countries by population
Based on the United Nations data, the world’s most populous nations at the end of 2025 are:
India: 1.47 billion people
China: 1.42 billion people
United States: 347.8 million people
Indonesia: 286.3 million people
Pakistan: 256.2 million people
Nigeria: 238.7 million people
Brazil: 213.0 million people
Bangladesh: 176.2 million people
Russia: 143.8 million people
Ethiopia: 136.3 million people
Meanwhile, the world’s smallest recognised “state” – the tiny Pacific territory of Pitcairn – is currently home to fewer than 50 inhabitants.
That means India’s population has grown by the equivalent of the total population of Pitcairn every 2 minutes over the past year.
Share of the world’s population
The United Nations’s data also reveals that the world’s population is disproportionately concentrated in the largest nations, with well over half – 56.7 percent – living in just the top 10 countries:
India is home to 17.79 percent of the total global population
China is home to 17.16 percent of the total global population
United States is home to 4.22 percent of the total global population
Indonesia is home to 3.47 percent of the total global population
Pakistan is home to 3.11 percent of the total global population
Nigeria is home to 2.89 percent of the total global population
Brazil is home to 2.58 percent of the total global population
Bangladesh is home to 2.14 percent of the total global population
Russia is home to 1.74 percent of the total global population
Ethiopia is home to 1.65 percent of the total global population
Meanwhile, on a broader, regional level, Asia-Pacific is home to almost 6 in 10 of all the people on Earth (59.3 percent), Southern Asia alone is home to more than a quarter of the global population (25.3 percent).
Here are the total population and global share figures by “continental” region (note that population figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand):
Africa: 1,558,593,000 people, which equates to 18.89 percent of the global total
The Americas: 1,057,039,000 people, which equates to 12.81 percent of the global total
APAC: 4,889,062,000 people, which equates to 59.27 percent of the global total
Europe: 744,205,000 people, which equates to 9.02 percent of the global total
And here’s how things break down by the United Nations’ “geoscheme” regions:
Northern America: 388,069,000 people, which equates to 4.70 percent of the global total
Central America: 185,592,000 people, which equates to 2.25 percent of the global total
Caribbean: 44,665,000 people, which equates to 0.54 percent of the global total
Southern America: 438,713,000 people, which equates to 5.32 percent of the global total
Western Europe: 199,572,000 people, which equates to 2.42 percent of the global total
Northern Europe: 109,620,000 people, which equates to 1.33 percent of the global total
Southern Europe: 150,665,000 people, which equates to 1.83 percent of the global total
Eastern Europe: 284,347,000 people, which equates to 3.45 percent of the global total
Northern Africa: 277,416,000 people, which equates to 3.36 percent of the global total
Western Africa: 469,109,000 people, which equates to 5.69 percent of the global total
Middle Africa: 221,146,000 people, which equates to 2.68 percent of the global total
Eastern Africa: 516,684,000 people, which equates to 6.26 percent of the global total
Southern Africa: 74,237,000 people, which equates to 0.90 percent of the global total
Western Asia: 315,482,000 people, which equates to 3.82 percent of the global total
Central Asia: 83,934,000 people, which equates to 1.02 percent of the global total
Southern Asia: 2,090,482,000 people, which equates to 25.34 percent of the global total
Southeastern Asia: 701,232,000 people, which equates to 8.50 percent of the global total
Eastern Asia: 1,651,187,000 people, which equates to 20.02 percent of the global total
Oceania: 46,739,000 people, which equates to 0.57 percent of the global total
Demographics of the global population
At a worldwide level, men outnumber women by roughly 43 million.
As a result, men account for roughly 50.3 percent of the global population, while women represent 49.7 percent [note that data are only available for binary genders]
However, it’s important to highlight that the gender balance reverses as the population gets older, and women account for more than half of the global population above the age of 48.
Gender splits also vary significantly by geography.
For example, across the local population as a whole, women account for 55 percent of the inhabitants of Hong Kong, and more than 54 percent of the total in Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Moldova.
AT the other end of the spectrum, more than 71 percent of the resident population in Qatar is male, and men also account for more than 60 percent of the populations of all other Gulf Cooperation Council members:
The United Arab Emirates: 63.7 percent male
Oman: 62.4 percent male
Bahrain: 62.0 percent male
Kuwait: 61.1 percent male
Saudi Arabia: 60.4 percent male
The average age of the global population
The median age of the global population stands at 30.9 years old at the end of 2025, meaning that there are an equal number of people both below and above this age across the total global population.
This figure has been creeping up in recent years though, and the global median was still below 30 years of age as recently as 2021.
Looking ahead, the United Nations projects that more than half of the global population will be over the age of 40 by the year 2080.
However, more than half of the total population is already over the age in three states today: The Vatican (57.4 years), Monaco (53.6 years), and Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan Da Cunha (50.9 years).
At the other end of the age spectrum, more than half of Africa’s total population is below the age of 20.
The Central African Republic has the world’s youngest population in 2025, with the country’s median age just 14.5 years old.
Niger ranks second, at 15.6, while Somalia’s median age is only a fraction higher.
Moreover, the median age remains below 17 across the world’s ten youngest populations.
At a regional level, more than half of Europe’s total population is over the age of 40.
Indeed, the UN’s data indicates that the median age across the region is now 42.8 years old, which is more than 2.6 times higher than the figure for Middle Africa, where the median age is 16.4 years old.
It’s also interesting to note that the median age is already 41 across Eastern Asia too, and with a median of 38.7 years old, Northern America isn’t far from the big four-oh.
The age profile of the global population
Meanwhile, the slowdown in overall population growth means that the largest single five-age group is now people aged 10 to 14, with the United Nations data indicating that there are 689 million people in this age group at the end of 2025.
Interestingly, that’s 44 million higher than the figure that we see for the 0 to 4 years age group, which tends to support the United Nations’ current prediction that the global population will start to decline after 2084, when the total will be roughly 10.29 billion.
Average household size
The number of people living in the typical household also varies meaningfully by country.
Kepios’s analysis of data from the United Nations, Eurostat, and national census reports indicates that the global average now stands at 3.7 people per inhabited dwelling.
Based on the available data, Senegal has the largest average household size today, with the typical home occupied by 8.7 people.
Meanwhile, average household size exceeds 8 people in The Gambia, Afghanistan, and Oman.
Average household size is considerably lower across Europe though, and in fact, the latest figures indicate that national averages fall below two people in both Finland and Lithuania.
And furthermore, data suggest that the average figure only reaches 2.1 across Western Europe as a whole.
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