Closing Numbers

2026-10-14

Top 10 Most populous countries in 2025 (vs 2015)

The 10 most populous countries in 2025, ranked with World Bank data, and how the list changed since 2015.

The numbers

Top 10, 2025

#Country20252015Change
1India1.46 billion1.33 billion+10.2%
2China1.41 billion1.38 billion+1.9%
3United States342 million322 million+6.2%
4Indonesia286 million262 million+9.1%
5Pakistan255 million217 million+17.5%
6Nigeria238 million191 million+24.6%
7Brazil213 million202 million+5.5%
8Bangladesh176 million159 million+10.2%
9Russia144 million145 million-0.8%
10Ethiopia135 million104 million+30.4%

Sources

Narration

These are the 10 most populous countries in 2025, ranked with World Bank data. Let's count down from number 10.

Number 10: Ethiopia, with 135 million people. That is up 30.4% from 104 million people in 2015.

Number 9: Russia, with 144 million people.

Number 8: Bangladesh, with 176 million people.

Number 7: Brazil, with 213 million people.

Number 6: Nigeria, with 238 million people.

Number 5: Pakistan, with 255 million people.

Number 4: Indonesia, with 286 million people.

Number 3: United States, with 342 million people. That is up 6.2% from 322 million people in 2015.

Number 2: China, with 1.41 billion people. That is up 1.9% from 1.38 billion people in 2015.

Number 1: India, with 1.46 billion people. That is up 10.2% from 1.33 billion people in 2015.

Compared with 2015, one country is new to the top 10: Ethiopia. Dropped out since 2015: Japan.

Figures are 2025 data from the World Bank, covering 217 countries. This is a data summary, not financial advice. Subscribe for more rankings in numbers.

Automated data summary generated from the sources above. For information only. Not financial advice.