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Most Populous Modern-Day Countries in 1000 AD

Name the modern-day countries whose current territory had the highest population in the year 1000.
Estimates based on this map
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: June 3, 2019
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First submittedSeptember 6, 2017
Times taken66,121
Average score76.5%
Rating4.70
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Population
Country
73 m
India
58 m
China
9 m
Bangladesh
7 m
Turkey
6 m
Mexico
6 m
Japan
Population
Country
5 m
France
5 m
Indonesia
4 m
Egypt
4 m
Iran
4 m
Italy
4 m
Nigeria
Population
Country
4 m
Pakistan
4 m
Spain
3 m
Germany
3 m
Peru
3 m
Sudan
47 Comments
+9
Level 63
Sep 7, 2017
Shouldn't Japan be 7 m? If I got it right you counted the dots on the sources map that each stand for a million People. At first it looks like Japan has 6 but if you zoom in you see 7.
+5
Level ∞
Jun 3, 2019
Yes, fixed
+32
Level 72
Oct 13, 2019
It still shows as 6 though in the quiz and answers
+5
Level 60
Apr 29, 2021
^ yeah
+9
Level 60
Feb 9, 2018
Didn't expect Bangladesh to be this high. Also surprised to see india and china so far above the pack.
+66
Level 47
Feb 9, 2018
Hey, you want to have a billion people? Gotta start early.
+6
Level 37
Oct 13, 2019
Bangladesh is considered the best place on Earth for human settlement, not surprised to it on this list.
+7
Level 53
Aug 13, 2021
Are you sure about that statistic? It seems a bit odd, considering the regular flooding problem that affects most of the country.
+16
Level 69
Apr 17, 2022
In terms of arable land and food production, yes. Other aspects I doubt...
+7
Level 71
Apr 17, 2022
A lot of places that are the best for agriculture also tend to be very flood prone. The same could be said of the Nile and the Yellow River, not to mention many other parts of the India subcontinent.
+9
Level 66
Feb 9, 2018
A lot of these countries were about to lose a LOT of people. I would like to see this quiz, but around 1400.
+6
Level 76
Nov 2, 2020
The Black Death hit the world hard in the 1300s which is long time after 1000 ad. All these countries' populations would probably be larger in 1400 than in 1000.
+15
Level 87
Feb 9, 2018
Wow. Bangladesh's current population seems slightly less insane when you see they were the 3rd largest country in the world 1000 years ago.
+7
Level 78
Feb 9, 2018
Frig, why on earth do I keep forgetting Spain on these quizzes?
+8
Level 33
Apr 6, 2019
I was surprised that Russia wasn't on the list.
+4
Level 32
May 3, 2022
Not many people could live in Russia because it was hard to farm there. In the south and east, the dry steppes resulted in most people being pastoralists. In western Russia, it was a little different, but most agricultural techniques that allowed for heightened food production were slow to arrive.
+4
Level 62
May 2, 2019
China and India always at a whole nother level than the rest
+2
Level 72
Jan 9, 2021
How is Sudan on the list but not Egypt or Iraq..? Wasn't the Islamic Golden Age at its height by now?
+4
Level 71
Mar 31, 2021
Egypt is on here, along with Iran...?
+3
Level 74
Apr 18, 2022
Yeah, the two biggest population centres for the Islamic Caliphate(s) at the time. I thought Iraq would be here too, but perhaps it's too small? It's estimated that Baghdad alone had around 1m people at the time, but sources vary.
+2
Level 64
Feb 19, 2021
My brain was like "Should I do Germany?" "Nah"
+1
Level 28
May 13, 2022
same
+4
Level 67
Aug 16, 2021
I wonder how the world would be if we had the standard of living of the 21st century but the demography of the year 1000.

Also, I wonder what the world could be in the year 3000. I believe forecasts depend on the race between uncontrolled economic/population growth and the pursuit of (an obviously unreachable level of) sustainable development, and on a second race between nature-palliative technology and natural/human disasters.

+2
Level 82
Oct 20, 2021
I don't know how they think they know these numbers but guessing my way to a full house gets me to level 72 :)
+4
Level 68
Apr 17, 2022
Obviously they counted.
+1
Level 74
Apr 18, 2022
I have the exact same question.
+2
Level 67
Apr 17, 2022
back when the world was worth living
+3
Level 36
Apr 17, 2022
boy tf
+4
Level 72
Nov 9, 2022
The standards of living weren't anything to be envious of.
+1
Level 43
Apr 17, 2022
Not Syria and Iraq ? How
+2
Level 65
Apr 17, 2022
The countries are not that large, and much of their area is desertic
+3
Level 82
Apr 17, 2022
I find it hard to believe that places like Russia, the US and Brazil don’t make these lists because of their sheer size. I get that there’s no reliable data for them, but there isn’t much for any of the countries.
+3
Level 32
May 3, 2022
In Russia and Brazil, there wasn't very much agriculture or even arable land which drastically reduced the maximum populations of the regions. In the US there was some agriculture, however, it was labor-intensive, which also reduced the maximum amount of food the region could produce.
+1
Level 48
Oct 13, 2024
Look into extinct Amazonian settlements. Brazil will be here eventually.
+1
Level 68
Apr 18, 2022
How could I forget France?
+1
Level 31
Apr 18, 2022
I am keeping forget Bangladesh!
+1
Level 28
May 13, 2022
why did i forgot egypt
+1
Level 40
Dec 13, 2022
Mexico didn't exist in 1000 AD.

It didn't exist until the 1800s when it rebelled from Spain.

This quiz is wrong.

If you do count Mexico, then remove the answer Mexico and add the Mexico population to Spain.

+7
Level 53
Jan 5, 2023
read the title
+2
Level 82
Oct 13, 2023
Add the México population to Spain? Year 1000 AD? It wasn't conquered until the 1500s...
+1
Level 51
Sep 13, 2024
Aztecs
+1
Level 62
May 18, 2023
Yeahhhh
+1
Level 77
Jul 31, 2023
People act like the massive population growth in Asia is somehow unusual, when really it was the 19th century that was the outlier in world demographic history. The late 20th century demographic explosions in countries like China and India have really just been a return to normal trends.
+1
Level ∞
Sep 1, 2024
It's a bit more complicated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_history_of_China#/media/File:China_population_growth.svg

China had a huge population boom between 1700–1850. During that period, the population of China actually grew *faster* than the population of Europe.

+1
Level 19
Oct 14, 2024
I feel like this quiz is missing alot, the territory of the modern united states most likely had a population exceeding 10 million, considering the fact the population of North America as a whole was arround 50-100 million pre-Columbus. Even if we account for expononential population the modern day US should definitely be on this list.
+1
Level 21
Nov 23, 2024
hello
+1
Level 18
Nov 28, 2024
I don't get why a lot of these countries are not directly related to the same counties in 1000 AD. This could be missing so much considering the stuff we can't know about some other countries that got brutally taken over and replaced.