Evolution of World Population by Continent - 1950-2026

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First published: Tuesday March 10th, 2026

Evolution of the distribution of the world's population by continent. Continental distribution of countries according to JetPunk - Source.
% as part of population for each given year.

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	Asia	Africa	Europe	North America	South America	Oceania
1950-01-01	54.83	9.11	22.14	8.91	4.51	0.49
1980-01-01	59.14	10.79	15.75	8.41	5.4	0.51
2000-01-01	60.72	13.37	11.92	7.86	5.64	0.5
2026-01-01	58.67	18.95	9.04	7.48	5.31	0.56

1 Comments

Level 74

Mar 10, 2026

In 1950, almost 1 in 5 humans was European. That's about 1 in 10 in 2026. It's pretty much the opposite for Africa.

During this same time period, the countries of North and South America have remained stable as a share of the world population, while Asia % population is slowly declining.

How many years from now will most humans be African instead of Asian?

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