About Pop vs

What this is

A comparer for total population. Choose two of the 217 countries and areas, drag the year from 1960 to 2050, and each is drawn as a crowd of dots at the same scale, with the ratio, the gap and the year one passes the other.

Where the numbers come from

The World Bank's population estimates and projections, built from United Nations and national statistics. See sources and limits for the exact series and licence.

How the pages are chosen

The comparer works for any pair of the 217 countries and areas. Separate pages exist only where people actually search: a country gets its own page when its population and growth are things people look up, and a pair gets a page when that exact comparison is searched for. Every other pair is one choice in the comparer away.

What it leaves out

Age groups, cities, migration flows and anything that is not a total. Projections are not forecasts of events.

How the numbers are taken. Total population from the World Bank's population estimates and projections (built from United Nations and national statistics). Values to 2025 are estimates; 2026–2050 are projections that continue current fertility, mortality and migration trends. Sources and limits.

Corrections

If a figure looks wrong, the fix is to correct the source series and rebuild the page.

Write to zkfmapf999@gmail.com.