Population by Continent Over Time

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Last updated: Monday June 28th, 2021

Throughout written history, Asia has been by far the most populous continent. However, explosive growth in Africa may change that by the end of the 21st century.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

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Year	Asia	Europe	Americas	Africa
1500	294000000	78000000	20000000	47000000
1600	379000000	112000000	11000000	55000000
1700	402000000	127000000	13000000	61000000
1820	710000000	224000000	33000000	74000000
1913	981000000	498000000	186000000	125000000
1950	1394018000	549089000	340459000	228902000
2000	3714470000	726407000	840614000	814063000
2020	4641054000	747636000	1022832000	1340598000
2050	5290000000	710000000	1190000000	2490000000
2100	4719420000	629560000	1132040000	4280130000

+19

Level ∞

Jul 6, 2018

Note: This is a logarithmic scale.

Level 46

Jul 9, 2018

Could you maybe make one that is not logarithmic that maybe could end at the beginning of the 1900s, before the most extreme population growth? It'd be interesting to see how it would look without distortion

+19

Level 78

Jul 23, 2018

Can you give a little love to Oceania :(

Level 56

Feb 28, 2020

Or use ASIA PACIFIC!

Level 39

Jul 29, 2021

Antarctica: AM I JOKE TO YOU

Level 42

Oct 30, 2021

Antarctica, Oceania, and S E A L A N D: ARE WE JOKES TO YOU?

(Sealand is a micro-nation-principality that doesn't have world recognition, and I consider it a country, and in 2002-3, the population of Sealand was at twenty-seven people).

In all seriousness, Even though Australia (Or Oceania) wasn't discovered until like, early-mid 1500's-late 1700's, you should have put it on there, and even though Antarctica was discovered in the late 1800's- EARLY EARLY 1900's, you should have put it in there.

Level 64

Jul 23, 2018

I didn't know that 20 years ago population of Americas was bigger than Africa and now Africa has more than 200 million people than the first.

+11

Level 71

Nov 13, 2019

The scariest thing about this chart is the huge drop in population in the Americas between 1500 and 1600. Nothing communicates the brutality of colonization better than population loss.

Level 65

Sep 7, 2020

Probably the main reason is that thousands Native Americans died of diseases

Level ∞

Jun 28, 2021

The Americas were barely colonized during that time period. The reason for the population loss is disease. Imagine a population with no immunity being exposed to malaria, smallpox, measles, and many other diseases all at the same time.

Level 71

Nov 13, 2019

I also find the population boom in the Americas between 1820 and 1913 interesting

Level 84

Nov 17, 2019

Well, this coincides with the ending of the several Independence Wars through the formerly Spanish and Portuguese domains.

And while there were internal and external wars (almost every country had civil or partisan-related wars), during peacetime almost every country managed to thrive and have their population grown.

Of course, after 1913 came World War One and the Great Depression; the Mexican Revolution entered its most destructive phase; Peru and Chile saw guano and natural nitrate got devalued and replaced by chemical nitrate... Several things that made a dent (but in fact didn't halt) in population growth.

Level 71

Nov 17, 2019

I'm guessing that the United States also drove a lot of the growth because of industrialization and mass immigration in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Level 40

Feb 15, 2020

antarctica should be first...

Level 64

Feb 19, 2021

Yeah! It hasn't seen a fall in population throughout its whole freezing era!

Level 64

Feb 19, 2021

This chart is a bit hard to read, given the inconsistent lines. It took me a while to realize that Africa had boomed much more than 200%.

Level 66

Jul 21, 2022

Of course, the good thing about a log graph is that it allows the lines to be far closer than they would be otherwise, as opposed to a graph where Asia is at the very top and there is a massive gap until the European line.

Level 35

Feb 26, 2021

Add Antarctica plz.

And Oceania

Level 23

Mar 25, 2021

and 2000 was the year of the overlaps

Africa and te USA probably signed the Constitution of 2000

Europe said they good and what do they get? low pop.