Population, total
Aruba, Africa Eastern and Southern, Afghanistan...and 262 more, 1960 - 2020
Reference ID
SP.POP.TOTL
Metadata
Created on
Oct 29, 2021
Last modified
Oct 29, 2021
Page views
2890
Overview
Series unique ID
SP.POP.TOTL
Series Name
Population, total
Database ID
WLD_2021_WDI_v01_M
Periodicity of data
Annual
Series chart
Data preview
Definition long
Total population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship. The values shown are midyear estimates.
Methodology
Population estimates are usually based on national population censuses. Estimates for the years before and after the census are interpolations or extrapolations based on demographic models.
Errors and undercounting occur even in high-income countries. In developing countries errors may be substantial because of limits in the transport, communications, and other resources required to conduct and analyze a full census.
The quality and reliability of official demographic data are also affected by public trust in the government, government commitment to full and accurate enumeration, confidentiality and protection against misuse of census data, and census agencies' independence from political influence. Moreover, comparability of population indicators is limited by differences in the concepts, definitions, collection procedures, and estimation methods used by national statistical agencies and other organizations that collect the data.
The currentness of a census and the availability of complementary data from surveys or registration systems are objective ways to judge demographic data quality. Some European countries' registration systems offer complete information on population in the absence of a census.
The United Nations Statistics Division monitors the completeness of vital registration systems. Some developing countries have made progress over the last 60 years, but others still have deficiencies in civil registration systems.
International migration is the only other factor besides birth and death rates that directly determines a country's population growth. Estimating migration is difficult. At any time many people are located outside their home country as tourists, workers, or refugees or for other reasons. Standards for the duration and purpose of international moves that qualify as migration vary, and estimates require information on flows into and out of countries that is difficult to collect.
Population projections, starting from a base year are projected forward using assumptions of mortality, fertility, and migration by age and sex through 2050, based on the UN Population Division's World Population Prospects database medium variant.
Errors and undercounting occur even in high-income countries. In developing countries errors may be substantial because of limits in the transport, communications, and other resources required to conduct and analyze a full census.
The quality and reliability of official demographic data are also affected by public trust in the government, government commitment to full and accurate enumeration, confidentiality and protection against misuse of census data, and census agencies' independence from political influence. Moreover, comparability of population indicators is limited by differences in the concepts, definitions, collection procedures, and estimation methods used by national statistical agencies and other organizations that collect the data.
The currentness of a census and the availability of complementary data from surveys or registration systems are objective ways to judge demographic data quality. Some European countries' registration systems offer complete information on population in the absence of a census.
The United Nations Statistics Division monitors the completeness of vital registration systems. Some developing countries have made progress over the last 60 years, but others still have deficiencies in civil registration systems.
International migration is the only other factor besides birth and death rates that directly determines a country's population growth. Estimating migration is difficult. At any time many people are located outside their home country as tourists, workers, or refugees or for other reasons. Standards for the duration and purpose of international moves that qualify as migration vary, and estimates require information on flows into and out of countries that is difficult to collect.
Population projections, starting from a base year are projected forward using assumptions of mortality, fertility, and migration by age and sex through 2050, based on the UN Population Division's World Population Prospects database medium variant.
Limitations and exceptions
Current population estimates for developing countries that lack (i) reliable recent census data, and (ii) pre- and post-census estimates for countries with census data, are provided by the United Nations Population Division and other agencies.
The cohort component method - a standard method for estimating and projecting population - requires fertility, mortality, and net migration data, often collected from sample surveys, which can be small or limited in coverage. Population estimates are from demographic modeling and so are susceptible to biases and errors from shortcomings in both the model and the data. In the UN estimates the five-year age group is the cohort unit and five-year period data are used; therefore interpolations to obtain annual data or single age structure may not reflect actual events or age composition.
Because future trends cannot be known with certainty, population projections have a wide range of uncertainty.
The cohort component method - a standard method for estimating and projecting population - requires fertility, mortality, and net migration data, often collected from sample surveys, which can be small or limited in coverage. Population estimates are from demographic modeling and so are susceptible to biases and errors from shortcomings in both the model and the data. In the UN estimates the five-year age group is the cohort unit and five-year period data are used; therefore interpolations to obtain annual data or single age structure may not reflect actual events or age composition.
Because future trends cannot be known with certainty, population projections have a wide range of uncertainty.
Topics
| Topic |
|---|
| Health: Population: Structure |
Relevance
Increases in human population, whether as a result of immigration or more births than deaths, can impact natural resources and social infrastructure. This can place pressure on a country's sustainability. A significant growth in population will negatively impact the availability of land for agricultural production, and will aggravate demand for food, energy, water, social services, and infrastructure. On the other hand, decreasing population size - a result of fewer births than deaths, and people moving out of a country - can impact a government's commitment to maintain services and infrastructure.
Series dates
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 1960 | 2020 |
Aggregation method
Sum
Notes
Geographic information
Geographic coverage
| Location name | Location code |
|---|---|
| Aruba | ABW |
| Africa Eastern and Southern | AFE |
| Afghanistan | AFG |
| Africa Western and Central | AFW |
| Angola | AGO |
| Albania | ALB |
| Andorra | AND |
| Arab World | ARB |
| United Arab Emirates | ARE |
| Argentina | ARG |
| Armenia | ARM |
| American Samoa | ASM |
| Antigua and Barbuda | ATG |
| Australia | AUS |
| Austria | AUT |
| Azerbaijan | AZE |
| Burundi | BDI |
| Belgium | BEL |
| Benin | BEN |
| Burkina Faso | BFA |
| Bangladesh | BGD |
| Bulgaria | BGR |
| Bahrain | BHR |
| The Bahamas | BHS |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | BIH |
| Belarus | BLR |
| Belize | BLZ |
| Bermuda | BMU |
| Bolivia | BOL |
| Brazil | BRA |
| Barbados | BRB |
| Brunei | BRN |
| Bhutan | BTN |
| Botswana | BWA |
| Central African Republic | CAF |
| Canada | CAN |
| Central Europe and the Baltics | CEB |
| Switzerland | CHE |
| Channel Islands | CHI |
| Chile | CHL |
| China | CHN |
| Côte d'Ivoire | CIV |
| Cameroon | CMR |
| Dem. Rep. Congo | COD |
| Congo | COG |
| Colombia | COL |
| Comoros | COM |
| Cabo Verde | CPV |
| Costa Rica | CRI |
| Caribbean small states | CSS |
| Cuba | CUB |
| Curaçao | CUW |
| Cayman Islands | CYM |
| Cyprus | CYP |
| Czech Republic | CZE |
| Germany | DEU |
| Djibouti | DJI |
| Dominica | DMA |
| Denmark | DNK |
| Dominican Republic | DOM |
| Algeria | DZA |
| East Asia & Pacific (excluding high income) | EAP |
| Early-demographic dividend | EAR |
| East Asia & Pacific | EAS |
| Europe & Central Asia (excluding high income) | ECA |
| Europe & Central Asia | ECS |
| Ecuador | ECU |
| Egypt | EGY |
| Euro area | EMU |
| Eritrea | ERI |
| Spain | ESP |
| Estonia | EST |
| Ethiopia | ETH |
| European Union | EUU |
| Fragile and conflict affected situations | FCS |
| Finland | FIN |
| Fiji | FJI |
| France | FRA |
| Faroe Islands | FRO |
| Micronesia | FSM |
| Gabon | GAB |
| United Kingdom | GBR |
| Georgia | GEO |
| Ghana | GHA |
| Gibraltar | GIB |
| Guinea | GIN |
| The Gambia | GMB |
| Guinea-Bissau | GNB |
| Equatorial Guinea | GNQ |
| Greece | GRC |
| Grenada | GRD |
| Greenland | GRL |
| Guatemala | GTM |
| Guam | GUM |
| Guyana | GUY |
| High income | HIC |
| Hong Kong SAR, China | HKG |
| Honduras | HND |
| Heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) | HPC |
| Croatia | HRV |
| Haiti | HTI |
| Hungary | HUN |
| IBRD only | IBD |
| IDA & IBRD total | IBT |
| IDA total | IDA |
| IDA blend | IDB |
| Indonesia | IDN |
| IDA only | IDX |
| Isle of Man | IMN |
| India | IND |
| Ireland | IRL |
| Iran | IRN |
| Iraq | IRQ |
| Iceland | ISL |
| Israel | ISR |
| Italy | ITA |
| Jamaica | JAM |
| Jordan | JOR |
| Japan | JPN |
| Kazakhstan | KAZ |
| Kenya | KEN |
| Kyrgyz Republic | KGZ |
| Cambodia | KHM |
| Kiribati | KIR |
| St. Kitts and Nevis | KNA |
| Korea | KOR |
| Kuwait | KWT |
| Latin America & Caribbean (excluding high income) | LAC |
| Lao PDR | LAO |
| Lebanon | LBN |
| Liberia | LBR |
| Libya | LBY |
| St. Lucia | LCA |
| Latin America & Caribbean | LCN |
| Least developed countries: UN classification | LDC |
| Low income | LIC |
| Liechtenstein | LIE |
| Sri Lanka | LKA |
| Lower middle income | LMC |
| Low & middle income | LMY |
| Lesotho | LSO |
| Late-demographic dividend | LTE |
| Lithuania | LTU |
| Luxembourg | LUX |
| Latvia | LVA |
| Macao SAR, China | MAC |
| St. Martin (French part) | MAF |
| Morocco | MAR |
| Monaco | MCO |
| Moldova | MDA |
| Madagascar | MDG |
| Maldives | MDV |
| Middle East & North Africa | MEA |
| Mexico | MEX |
| Marshall Islands | MHL |
| Middle income | MIC |
| North Macedonia | MKD |
| Mali | MLI |
| Malta | MLT |
| Myanmar | MMR |
| Middle East & North Africa (excluding high income) | MNA |
| Montenegro | MNE |
| Mongolia | MNG |
| Northern Mariana Islands | MNP |
| Mozambique | MOZ |
| Mauritania | MRT |
| Mauritius | MUS |
| Malawi | MWI |
| Malaysia | MYS |
| North America | NAC |
| Namibia | NAM |
| New Caledonia | NCL |
| Niger | NER |
| Nigeria | NGA |
| Nicaragua | NIC |
| Netherlands | NLD |
| Norway | NOR |
| Nepal | NPL |
| Nauru | NRU |
| New Zealand | NZL |
| OECD members | OED |
| Oman | OMN |
| Other small states | OSS |
| Pakistan | PAK |
| Panama | PAN |
| Peru | PER |
| Philippines | PHL |
| Palau | PLW |
| Papua New Guinea | PNG |
| Poland | POL |
| Pre-demographic dividend | PRE |
| Puerto Rico | PRI |
| Dem. People's Rep. Korea | PRK |
| Portugal | PRT |
| Paraguay | PRY |
| West Bank and Gaza | PSE |
| Pacific island small states | PSS |
| Post-demographic dividend | PST |
| French Polynesia | PYF |
| Qatar | QAT |
| Romania | ROU |
| Russia | RUS |
| Rwanda | RWA |
| South Asia | SAS |
| Saudi Arabia | SAU |
| Sudan | SDN |
| Senegal | SEN |
| Singapore | SGP |
| Solomon Islands | SLB |
| Sierra Leone | SLE |
| El Salvador | SLV |
| San Marino | SMR |
| Somalia | SOM |
| Serbia | SRB |
| Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) | SSA |
| South Sudan | SSD |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | SSF |
| Small states | SST |
| São Tomé and Principe | STP |
| Suriname | SUR |
| Slovak Republic | SVK |
| Slovenia | SVN |
| Sweden | SWE |
| Eswatini | SWZ |
| Sint Maarten (Dutch part) | SXM |
| Seychelles | SYC |
| Syrian Arab Republic | SYR |
| Turks and Caicos Islands | TCA |
| Chad | TCD |
| East Asia & Pacific (IDA & IBRD) | TEA |
| Europe & Central Asia (IDA & IBRD) | TEC |
| Togo | TGO |
| Thailand | THA |
| Tajikistan | TJK |
| Turkmenistan | TKM |
| Latin America & Caribbean (IDA & IBRD) | TLA |
| Timor-Leste | TLS |
| Middle East & North Africa (IDA & IBRD) | TMN |
| Tonga | TON |
| South Asia (IDA & IBRD) | TSA |
| Sub-Saharan Africa (IDA & IBRD) | TSS |
| Trinidad and Tobago | TTO |
| Tunisia | TUN |
| Turkey | TUR |
| Tuvalu | TUV |
| Tanzania | TZA |
| Uganda | UGA |
| Ukraine | UKR |
| Upper middle income | UMC |
| Uruguay | URY |
| United States | USA |
| Uzbekistan | UZB |
| St. Vincent and the Grenadines | VCT |
| Venezuela | VEN |
| British Virgin Islands | VGB |
| Virgin Islands | VIR |
| Vietnam | VNM |
| Vanuatu | VUT |
| World | WLD |
| Samoa | WSM |
| Kosovo | XKX |
| Yemen | YEM |
| South Africa | ZAF |
| Zambia | ZMB |
| Zimbabwe | ZWE |
API documentation
Api documentation
| See the Developer Information webpage for detailed documentation of the API |
| https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/topics/125589-developer-information |
Series links
License
Access license
| CC BY-4.0 |
| https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Metadata production
Series unique ID
SP.POP.TOTL