Skip to content
Nations Inquiry — home

Data for 2012

Total Population, 2012

2012, as UN DESA Population Division’s 2024 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Total Population, 2012 covers 222 countries. China is highest, at 1,369,520,864; Vatican City is lowest, at 602. The middle country reads 5,752,533. Against 2011, 221 values changed (184 up, 37 down), the same countries are covered.

Total Population · Data for 2012

HighestChina

1,369,520,864

LowestVatican City

602

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the highest end. Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score.

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Total Population, 2012, as published. UN DESA Population Division ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

Showing 25 of 222 countries · select a heading to sort

Total Population, 2012: every country, as published by UN DESA Population Division.
derived
1ChinaCHNEastern Asia1,369,520,864
2IndiaINDSouthern Asia1,278,674,502
3United StatesUSANorthern America317,115,355
4IndonesiaIDNSouth-eastern Asia252,698,525
5PakistanPAKSouthern Asia207,667,125
6BrazilBRASouth America196,876,111
7NigeriaNGAWestern Africa176,200,625
8BangladeshBGDSouthern Asia155,070,101
9RussiaRUSEastern Europe144,291,029
10JapanJPNEastern Asia127,928,285
11MexicoMEXCentral America116,818,208
12PhilippinesPHLSouth-eastern Asia100,175,512
13EthiopiaETHEastern Africa95,798,767
14EgyptEGYNorthern Africa93,161,001
15VietnamVNMSouth-eastern Asia89,510,356
16GermanyDEUWestern Europe80,916,390
17IranIRNSouthern Asia79,370,580
18TürkiyeTURWestern Asia75,197,198
19DR CongoCODMiddle Africa73,254,618
20ThailandTHASouth-eastern Asia69,436,098
21FranceFRAWestern Europe64,058,465
22United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe63,960,484
23ItalyITASouthern Europe60,531,515
24South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa53,782,567
25MyanmarMMRSouth-eastern Asia49,837,446

02In 2012

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

  1. 1China1,369,520,864
  2. 2India1,278,674,502
  3. 3United States317,115,355
  4. 4Indonesia252,698,525
  5. 5Pakistan207,667,125

Lowest

  1. 222Vatican City602
  2. 221Niue1,757
  3. 220Montserrat4,796
  4. 219Nauru10,267
  5. 218Tuvalu10,934

Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score. The middle country reads 5,752,533. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032011 → 2012

Since 2011

What changed between 2011 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 221values changed, of 222 in both
  • 184 · 37rose · fell
  • 1unchanged

Rose most

  • India1,261,224,954 → 1,278,674,502+17,449,548
  • China1,360,250,664 → 1,369,520,864+9,270,200
  • Nigeria171,379,598 → 176,200,625+4,821,027
  • Pakistan203,746,065 → 207,667,125+3,921,060
  • Indonesia249,470,032 → 252,698,525+3,228,493

Fell most

  • Japan128,096,432 → 127,928,285−168,147
  • Libya6,343,203 → 6,179,328−163,875
  • Romania20,282,011 → 20,158,452−123,559
  • Syria22,878,098 → 22,759,763−118,335
  • Ukraine46,307,853 → 46,210,056−97,797

Both years come from the same release, so a difference here is a change in the data, not a revision of it. Every country’s full history is charted on the statistic page.

04Caveats

Read before you use

What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.

The site’s method
  • One year of the 2024 release

    Every year in this series comes from UN DESA Population Division’s 2024 release, recalculated on one method. It can differ from what was first published for 2012.

  • The position is ours

    UN DESA Population Division publishes values only. The order here sorts the published values, and the page says so wherever it prints one.

  • Which end is better

    Neither end is better. The values describe a shape, not a score.

  • Nothing missing

    Every one of the 222 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

Licence in full

What this site changed: Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO. The version of CC BY written for intergovernmental organisations. Credit the publisher and say what you changed.

Cite this edition

UN DESA Population Division (2012). Total Population, 2012 [data set], describing 2012. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/population/2012

0674 held

Other years

07Questions

Total Population, 2012: questions and answers

Which country has the highest population in Total Population, 2012?

China, at 1,369,520,864, of the 222 countries in the file.

What year does Total Population, 2012 describe?

2012.

How many countries does Total Population, 2012 cover?

222.

Where can I download Total Population, 2012?

On this page, as a CSV file holding every value exactly as published, or from the publisher’s own site, linked below.

Is Total Population, 2012 the newest?

No. The newest held here is Total Population, 2023.

Feedback

Feedback

How are we doing?

Two answers are required — a rating and your email. The rest is up to you.