List of continents by population

Source	UN (World Population Prospects 2022)
Date	29 Jan 2024

Top Statistics

IPL 2024

List of continents by gdp per capita

Top 10 largest economies by GDP

Asia is the most populous continent in the world, with 4.79 billion people accounting for nearly 58.94% of the world population as of 2024. Africa is the second most largest continent by population, with around 1.49 billion people, or 18.41% of the world's population. Only these two continents have crossed one billion milestone. Asia and Africa, together share over 77% of the global population. Europe has a population of around 742 million (9.13%), North America is home to around 608 million (7.49%), South America, the second least populated continent, has about 443 million inhabitants (5.45%). Oceania (46 million) is the smallest continent on the basis population if Antarctica is excluded as there is no population estimates for Antarctica by UN (World Population Prospects 2022).

Top three biggest subregions belong to Asia Continent : Southern Asia (2.05 bn), Eastern Asia (1.686 bn) and South-Eastern Asia (693 mn). 45.7% of the world's population lives in Southern Asia (25.24%) and Eastern Asia (20.46%). Southern Asia includes India, the most populous country and Eastern Asia includes China, the 2nd most populous country. Micronesia is the smallest subregion followed by Polynesia having less than 1 mn people.

Africa has the highest population growth rate as all three subregions growing over 2% are in Africa. Middle Africa has highest rate of over 3% followed by Eastern Africa and Western Africa growing over 2%. The population growth rate of Africa (2.33%) continent is almost double of the growth rate of second most fastest growing continent Oceania (1.15%). Except Africa and Oceania, remaining four continent have growth grate below 1%. Population of Asia (0.66%), South America (0.70%) and North America (0.66%) are increasing with almost similar rate. Nine subregions have growth rate above 1%. Europe is the only continent with modest growth rate of -0.07% as lowest two ranked subregions are located in Europe. Southern Europe, Eastern Europe and Eastern Asia have negative growth rate.

With 35 mn more people in 2024, Africa is the top contributor of the total world population increment closely followed by Asia (32 mn).

Population of Europe has reached its peak level in 2020, Asia and South America is projected to peak in 2055 and.North America is projected to peak in 2072. Population of Africa and Oceania will not peak until 2100.

Population
Growth rate
Share

Continent
Sub region
Population
Growth rate

Continents by population
Rank	Continent	Population				Share (%)	Growth (2024)
		2023		2024			Net change	rate (%)
		1 Jan	1 July	1 Jan	1 July		Net change	rate (%)
1	Asia	4,736,907,367	4,753,079,727	4,769,252,087	4,785,060,131	58.94	31,616,088	0.66
2	Africa	1,443,404,353	1,460,481,772	1,477,559,192	1,494,993,924	18.41	34,869,463	2.33
3	Europe	742,617,238	742,272,652	741,928,067	741,651,866	9.13	-552,402	-0.07
4	North America	602,183,942	604,182,520	606,181,097	608,160,046	7.49	3,957,896	0.65
5	South America	438,130,846	439,719,008	441,307,171	442,860,822	5.45	3,107,302	0.70
6	Oceania	45,308,249	45,575,768	45,843,286	46,109,212	0.57	531,852	1.15
	World	8,008,551,995	8,045,311,447	8,082,070,900	8,118,835,999		73,530,199	0.91

Continents by population (historical and projection)
Continent	Population				Growth rate (%) against 2024
Continent	1950	2000	2050	2100	1950	2000	2050	2100
Asia	1,379,048,370	3,736,037,845	5,292,947,571	4,674,249,207	246.98	28.08	10.61	-2.32
Africa	227,549,258	818,952,057	2,485,135,539	3,924,420,614	557.00	82.55	66.23	162.50
Europe	549,721,718	726,968,473	703,007,486	586,515,447	34.91	2.02	-5.21	-20.92
North America	216,904,521	486,083,543	679,488,046	669,631,881	180.38	25.11	11.73	10.11
South America	113,520,677	349,634,282	491,078,654	425,793,942	290.11	26.66	10.89	-3.85
Oceania	12,577,612	31,222,775	57,834,465	68,711,947	266.60	47.68	25.43	49.02
World	2,499,322,157	6,148,898,975	9,709,491,761	10,349,323,038	224.84	32.04	19.59	27.47

Subregions by population
Rank	Subregion	Population				Share (%)	Growth (2024)		Continent
		2023		2024			Net change	rate (%)
		1 Jan	1 July	1 Jan	1 July		Net change	rate (%)
4	Eastern Africa	478,953,939	485,066,925	491,179,911	497,385,816	6.13	12,411,809	2.50	Africa
6	Western Africa	434,422,071	439,868,541	445,315,012	450,876,831	5.55	11,123,639	2.47	Africa
10	Northern Africa	262,083,820	264,205,998	266,328,177	268,459,961	3.31	4,263,569	1.59	Africa
13	Middle Africa	199,042,475	202,105,149	205,167,824	208,307,438	2.57	6,279,227	3.02	Africa
17	Southern Africa	68,902,048	69,235,158	69,568,268	69,963,878	0.86	791,219	1.13	Africa
16	Central Asia	77,609,312	78,165,568	78,721,823	79,271,159	0.98	1,098,672	1.39	Asia
2	Eastern Asia	1,662,914,295	1,662,476,937	1,662,039,578	1,661,450,366	20.46	-1,178,425	-0.07	Asia
1	Southern Asia	2,016,644,543	2,027,578,876	2,038,513,208	2,049,313,461	25.24	21,600,505	1.05	Asia
3	South-Eastern Asia	683,863,525	686,824,689	689,785,852	692,671,322	8.53	5,770,940	0.83	Asia
9	Western Asia	295,875,692	298,033,659	300,191,626	302,353,824	3.72	4,324,396	1.43	Asia
8	Eastern Europe	288,628,704	288,176,491	287,724,278	287,340,694	3.54	-767,167	-0.27	Europe
15	Northern Europe	106,721,926	106,896,543	107,071,160	107,243,393	1.32	344,466	0.32	Europe
14	Southern Europe	151,552,786	151,357,685	151,162,583	150,980,432	1.86	-364,301	-0.24	Europe
11	Western Europe	195,713,822	195,841,934	195,970,046	196,087,346	2.42	234,600	0.12	Europe
7	Northern America	377,824,592	378,904,407	379,984,222	381,048,005	4.69	2,127,566	0.56	North America
12	Central America	179,847,146	180,643,728	181,440,310	182,236,453	2.24	1,592,285	0.87	North America
18	Caribbean	44,512,204	44,634,385	44,756,565	44,875,588	0.55	238,045	0.53	North America
5	South America	438,130,846	439,719,008	441,307,171	442,860,822	5.45	3,107,302	0.70	South America
19	Australia/New Zealand	31,515,464	31,667,211	31,818,958	31,969,421	0.39	300,925	0.94	Oceania
20	Melanesia	12,524,312	12,634,228	12,744,143	12,853,824	0.16	219,362	1.71	Oceania
21	Polynesia	726,779	730,009	733,238	736,414	0.01	6,353	0.86	Oceania
22	Micronesia	541,694	544,321	546,947	549,553	0.01	5,212	0.95	Oceania
	World	8,008,551,995	8,045,311,447	8,082,070,900	8,118,835,999		73,530,199	0.91

Subregions by population (historical and projection)
Continent	Population				Growth rate (%) against 2024				Continent
Continent	1950	2000	2050	2100	1950	2000	2050	2100	Continent
Eastern Africa	65,794,236	258,473,864	846,282,904	1,338,985,917	655.97	92.43	70.15	169.20	Africa
Western Africa	70,239,992	237,416,079	773,342,802	1,251,489,475	541.91	89.91	71.52	177.57	Africa
Northern Africa	50,057,402	172,317,661	373,587,082	482,073,168	436.30	55.79	39.16	79.57	Africa
Middle Africa	26,634,416	97,355,936	406,380,251	763,156,297	682.10	113.96	95.09	266.36	Africa
Southern Africa	14,823,211	53,388,518	85,542,500	88,715,758	371.99	31.05	22.27	26.80	Africa
Central Asia	17,394,685	55,939,120	104,094,807	126,076,583	355.72	41.71	31.31	59.04	Asia
Eastern Asia	670,121,422	1,492,867,381	1,522,820,192	911,276,662	147.93	11.29	-8.34	-45.15	Asia
Southern Asia	475,354,966	1,472,489,876	2,475,946,953	2,433,582,888	331.11	39.17	20.82	18.75	Asia
South-Eastern Asia	164,797,842	525,397,454	789,648,154	740,739,535	320.32	31.84	14.00	6.94	Asia
Western Asia	51,379,454	189,344,014	400,437,465	462,573,540	488.47	59.68	32.44	52.99	Asia
Eastern Europe	220,217,079	304,568,104	259,566,353	202,515,698	30.48	-5.66	-9.67	-29.52	Europe
Northern Europe	77,453,466	94,435,136	113,135,088	112,768,936	38.46	13.56	5.49	5.15	Europe
Southern Europe	108,574,670	145,891,019	136,019,258	93,984,817	39.06	3.49	-9.91	-37.75	Europe
Western Europe	143,476,503	182,074,215	194,286,786	177,245,997	36.67	7.70	-0.92	-9.61	Europe
Northern America	162,089,353	313,205,695	421,397,985	448,026,120	135.09	21.66	10.59	17.58	North America
Central America	37,649,467	134,569,095	210,340,583	181,688,287	384.03	35.42	15.42	-0.30	North America
Caribbean	17,165,701	38,308,753	47,749,478	39,917,474	161.43	17.14	6.40	-11.05	North America
South America	113,520,677	349,634,282	491,078,654	425,793,942	290.11	26.66	10.89	-3.85	South America
Australia/New Zealand	10,088,775	22,873,229	38,141,921	44,158,741	216.88	39.77	19.31	38.13	Oceania
Melanesia	2,071,798	7,184,395	18,161,708	22,985,670	520.42	78.91	41.29	78.82	Oceania
Polynesia	255,382	639,764	878,491	911,479	188.36	15.11	19.29	23.77	Oceania
Micronesia	161,656	525,386	652,346	656,057	239.95	4.60	18.70	19.38	Oceania
World	2,499,322,157	6,148,898,975	9,709,491,761	10,349,323,038	224.84	32.04	19.59	27.47