The world’s population keeps rising, with estimates saying about 140 million babies are born each year. United Nations data suggest the global total will hit 8.5 billion by 2030, 9.7 billion by 2050 and level off at roughly 10.3 billion around 2080. Yet the growth rate is slowing: in 2020 it dropped below 1% for the first time since records began in 1950.
Even so, a handful of very large nations continue to expand quickly, and just eight countries are expected to supply more than half of all growth between now and 2050. Those eight include four in Africa, whose populations are forecast to surge as healthcare improves and infant mortality falls.
Meanwhile, India passed China as the world’s most-populous country back in 2023 and is on course to approach 1.7 billion people by 2050, while China’s total is projected to decline.
Population projections can shift when unexpected events occur, Covid-19 or major conflicts, for example, but they are still the best guide for governments planning for the future.
According to the World Population Review, 16 countries already have at least 100 million inhabitants in 2025.
Four of the 16 are African: Nigeria (just under 238 million) is growing so quickly it is likely to overtake the United States before 2060.
Ethiopia is home to 135 million people and rising. Egypt has topped 118 million despite slowing birth rates, and the Democratic Republic of Congo now has almost 113 million and one of the world’s highest fertility rates.
Each faces its own challenges in housing, food, jobs and infrastructure as numbers climb.
Elsewhere, Asia contains the two giants India and China, plus Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam.
The United States and Brazil are the only members from the Americas, and Russia is the only country in Europe with a population well above 100 million.
Here is the full list of countries with 100 million people or more in 2025 (populations rounded to the nearest thousand):
- India – 1,463,870,000
- China – 1,416,100,000
- United States – 347,276,000
- Indonesia – 285,721,000
- Pakistan – 255,220,000
- Nigeria – 237,528,000
- Brazil – 212,812,000
- Bangladesh – 175,687,000
- Russia – 143,997,000
- Ethiopia – 135,472,000
- Mexico – 131,947,000
- Japan – 123,103,000
- Egypt – 118,366,000
- Philippines – 116,787,000
- Democratic Republic of Congo – 112,832,000
- Vietnam – 101,599,000
All figures are 2025 estimates provided by the World Population Review.