1998 Population

In 1998, the estimated world population was approximately 5.9 billion people. Asia was the most populous continent, home to over 3.6 billion individuals, with China and India alone accounting for more than 2.2 billion combined—China had around 1.24 billion, and India about 980 million. Africa’s population was around 770 million, with Nigeria and Egypt as the most populous countries on the continent. Europe had roughly 730 million people, led by Russia (about 146 million) and Germany (over 82 million). Latin America and the Caribbean together had about 500 million inhabitants, with Brazil (around 170 million) and Mexico (about 97 million) as the largest countries. North America’s population, including the United States (about 270 million) and Canada (around 30 million), totaled nearly 300 million. Oceania, including Australia and the Pacific Islands, had a much smaller share, with about 30 million people. These figures reflect a world in the midst of rapid population growth, especially in developing regions.

Rank	Country	Population	Population Density Per Square KM
1	China	1,254,368,084	134.5
2	India	1,013,125,409	340.8
3	United States	275,854,104	30.1
4	Indonesia	207,471,652	114.5
5	Brazil	170,838,882	20.4
6	Russia	149,120,996	9.1
7	Pakistan	140,545,159	182.3
8	Japan	126,236,616	346.3
9	Bangladesh	124,225,950	954.3
10	Nigeria	118,927,944	130.6
11	Mexico	97,132,683	50
12	Germany	82,023,672	235.2
13	Vietnam	77,303,765	249.3
14	Philippines	73,281,726	245.8
15	Iran	65,019,303	42.5
16	Turkey	64,109,466	83.3
17	Egypt	62,913,563	63.2
18	France	60,640,400	94.7
19	Thailand	60,379,325	118.2
20	Ethiopia	59,773,769	54.5
21	United Kingdom	58,680,367	242.6
22	Italy	57,567,019	195.7
23	Ukraine	49,941,236	86.2
24	Congo Kinshasa	49,738,890	21.9
25	South Korea	46,151,512	476.2
26	Burma	45,404,941	69.5
27	South Africa	43,787,360	36.1
28	Spain	40,046,103	80.3
29	Colombia	39,648,334	38.2
30	Poland	38,668,755	127.1
31	Argentina	36,517,941	13.3
32	Tanzania	31,518,706	35.6
33	Canada	30,551,660	3.4
34	Algeria	29,768,857	12.5
35	Kenya	29,277,969	51.4
36	Morocco	27,814,994	38.8
37	Sudan	26,404,611	14.2
38	Peru	24,999,538	19.5
39	Uzbekistan	24,342,331	57.2
40	Venezuela	23,377,579	26.5
41	Nepal	22,671,580	158.2
42	Romania	22,511,376	97.9
43	North Korea	22,489,063	186.8
44	Malaysia	22,189,158	67.5
45	Taiwan	21,834,438	676.8
46	Uganda	21,684,295	110
47	Iraq	21,507,998	49.2
48	Afghanistan	21,451,549	32.9
49	Saudi Arabia	20,337,097	9.5
50	Sri Lanka	18,569,803	287.3
51	Australia	18,403,373	2.4
52	Ghana	18,171,536	79.9
53	Mozambique	17,794,446	22.6
54	Yemen	16,224,216	30.7
55	Côte d'Ivoire	15,854,026	49.9
56	Kazakhstan	15,840,791	5.9
57	Netherlands	15,717,094	463.7
58	Syria	15,654,697	84.2
59	Cameroon	14,986,869	31.7
60	Chile	14,794,082	19.9
61	Madagascar	14,792,364	25.4
62	Angola	14,737,018	11.8
63	Cambodia	12,051,628	68.3
64	Ecuador	12,050,626	43.5
65	Zimbabwe	11,757,096	30.4
66	Cuba	11,064,264	100.7
67	Greece	10,823,064	82.8
68	Burkina Faso	10,782,845	39.4
69	Guatemala	10,770,513	100.5
70	Mali	10,309,101	8.4
71	Czechia	10,290,950	133.2
72	Malawi	10,282,749	109.3
73	Portugal	10,224,826	111.8
74	Belgium	10,217,030	337.4
75	Hungary	10,200,404	113.8
76	Belarus	10,091,728	49.7
77	Niger	10,042,489	7.9
78	Zambia	9,603,804	12.9
79	Tunisia	9,347,424	60.2
80	Senegal	9,033,357	46.9
81	Sweden	8,902,684	21.7
82	Azerbaijan	8,308,674	100.6
83	Austria	8,078,621	98
84	Bulgaria	8,037,612	74.1
85	Dominican Republic	7,984,229	165.2
86	Haiti	7,957,222	288.7
87	Rwanda	7,896,686	320.1
88	Bolivia	7,840,306	7.2
89	Serbia	7,675,301	99.1
90	Chad	7,587,735	6
91	Guinea	7,387,802	30.1
92	Switzerland	7,217,046	180.4
93	Somalia	6,991,662	11.1
94	Hong Kong	6,541,288	6,096.3
95	Benin	6,252,712	56.5
96	Honduras	6,045,973	54
97	Tajikistan	5,983,495	42.3
98	Burundi	5,954,510	231.9
99	South Sudan	5,875,069	9.1
100	Israel	5,788,989	269.3
101	El Salvador	5,692,741	274.7
102	Slovakia	5,390,236	112.1
103	Denmark	5,302,767	125
104	Paraguay	5,199,553	13.1
105	Laos	5,167,653	22.4
106	Finland	5,146,983	16.9
107	Papua New Guinea	5,120,546	11.3
108	Georgia	4,882,649	70.1
109	Libya	4,821,438	2.7
110	Kyrgyzstan	4,816,669	25.1
111	Nicaragua	4,681,655	39
112	Jordan	4,565,026	51.4
113	Togo	4,545,465	83.6
114	Norway	4,432,719	14.6
115	Croatia	4,399,628	78.6
116	Moldova	4,266,196	129.7
117	Turkmenistan	4,262,241	9.1
118	Sierra Leone	4,056,360	56.6
119	Singapore	3,968,225	5,596.9
120	Puerto Rico	3,781,101	426.3
121	New Zealand	3,764,312	14.2
122	Lebanon	3,764,271	368
123	Central African Republic	3,758,557	6
124	Ireland	3,728,010	54.1
125	Eritrea	3,717,976	36.8
126	Costa Rica	3,713,736	72.7
127	Bosnia and Herzegovina	3,622,228	70.8
128	Lithuania	3,493,124	55.7
129	Albania	3,212,769	117.3
130	Uruguay	3,195,925	18.3
131	Armenia	3,106,215	110.1
132	United Arab Emirates	2,876,234	34.4
133	Panama	2,810,940	37.8
134	Congo Brazzaville	2,756,185	8.1
135	Jamaica	2,748,658	253.8
136	Liberia	2,583,863	26.8
137	Latvia	2,405,422	38.6
138	Mongolia	2,402,673	1.5
139	Mauritania	2,374,103	2.3
140	Oman	2,318,557	7.5
141	Slovenia	2,010,805	99.8
142	North Macedonia	1,995,474	78.5
143	Kosovo	1,966,249	180.6
144	Lesotho	1,865,996	61.5
145	Kuwait	1,859,820	104.4
146	West Bank	1,858,753	329.6
147	Namibia	1,783,944	2.2
148	Botswana	1,584,400	2.8
149	Estonia	1,400,972	33.1
150	The Gambia	1,269,095	125.4
151	Trinidad and Tobago	1,255,872	244.9
152	Guinea-Bissau	1,163,282	41.4
153	Mauritius	1,160,658	571.8
154	Gabon	1,129,989	4.4
155	Gaza Strip	1,056,039	2,933.4
156	Eswatini	1,032,922	60
157	Timor-Leste	954,332	64.2
158	Cyprus	893,734	96.7
159	Fiji	792,657	43.4
160	Guyana	762,660	3.9
161	Bhutan	630,417	16.4
162	Bahrain	625,214	822.6
163	Montenegro	623,492	46.3
164	Djibouti	618,301	26.7
165	Qatar	578,194	49.9
166	Comoros	518,892	232.2
167	Equatorial Guinea	504,985	18
168	Suriname	452,210	2.9
169	Luxembourg	426,408	164.9
170	Macau	421,609	15,057.5
171	Cabo Verde	412,972	102.4
172	Solomon Islands	408,598	14.6
173	Malta	388,442	1,229.2
174	Brunei	310,507	59
175	Maldives	281,180	943.6
176	The Bahamas	278,564	27.8
177	Iceland	273,998	2.7
178	Barbados	272,125	632.8
179	Belize	243,918	10.7
180	French Polynesia	227,450	59.4
181	New Caledonia	203,244	11.1
182	Vanuatu	182,944	15
183	Samoa	173,305	61.4
184	Saint Lucia	151,024	249.2
185	Guam	149,724	275.2
186	Curaçao	137,582	309.9
187	Sao Tome and Principe	134,800	139.8
188	U.S. Virgin Islands	108,537	311.9
189	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	108,404	278.7
190	Federated States of Micronesia	107,226	152.7
191	Grenada	100,384	291.8
192	Tonga	98,703	137.7
193	Aruba	88,204	490
194	Jersey	86,400	744.8
195	Kiribati	81,698	100.7
196	Seychelles	77,174	169.6
197	Isle of Man	74,311	129.9
198	Antigua and Barbuda	72,782	164.3
199	Dominica	70,054	93.3
200	Northern Mariana Islands	64,904	137.5
201	Andorra	64,728	138.3
202	Bermuda	62,056	1,149.2
203	Guernsey	61,418	787.4
204	American Samoa	56,873	287.2
205	Greenland	56,613	0
206	Marshall Islands	51,554	284.8
207	Saint Kitts and Nevis	44,604	170.9
208	Faroe Islands	44,560	32
209	Cayman Islands	36,042	136.5
210	Liechtenstein	31,749	198.4
211	Monaco	31,502	15,751
212	Sint Maarten	31,372	922.7
213	Saint Martin	30,355	562.1
214	Gibraltar	26,751	3,821.6
215	San Marino	26,159	428.8
216	British Virgin Islands	21,102	139.7
217	Palau	18,771	40.9
218	Turks and Caicos Islands	17,420	18.4
219	Cook Islands	17,326	73.4
220	Wallis and Futuna	14,366	101.2
221	Anguilla	10,754	118.2
222	Tuvalu	9,975	383.7
223	Nauru	9,882	470.6
224	Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha	7,120	18.1
225	Saint Barthelemy	6,748	269.9
226	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	6,428	26.6
227	Montserrat	3,381	33.1

Data from US Census International Database