Population as of January 1st (2026)

India tops the global rankings for population as of january 1st, recording 1.5B people in 2026, followed by China (1.4B people) and United States of America (348.2M people). Indonesia (286.8M people) and Pakistan (257.2M people) complete the top 5. Nigeria (240M people) and Brazil (213.2M people) follow close behind. Bangladesh (176.8M people), Russian Federation (143.6M people), and Ethiopia (137.2M people) round out the top ten. The spread is substantial: India has 11× the figure recorded by Ethiopia (137.2M people). Five of the top ten are in Asia, with three from Southern. Among these countries, Ethiopia saw the largest year-over-year change at +2.6%.