The largest Japanese population outside of Japan stands at 1.6 million people who live in Brazil.
100 Mind-Blowing Population Facts
There is a town in Nebraska called Monowi with a population of one. The only resident is a woman who is the Mayor, Bartender, and Librarian.
Since 1955, 50% of the population of Niger is consistently under 16 years old. The total current population is 21,600,000.
Until 2007, slavery was legal in Mauritania. Even still, 1-4% of the population is still living as slaves.
The Young America Township in Minnesota has a population of less than 1,000 but more than 20 zip codes.
Only 2% of the world’s population has green eyes.
Malta’s official language is Maltese; however, the majority of the population also speaks English.
The total population of insects is estimated to be a billion times greater than that of the human population.
The entire world population could fit in Texas, allotting 330 square feet per person. The area of Texas is about 262,000 square miles.
There are more people in the U.K. than in Canada, Australia, Norway, and Iceland combined. The UK population is over 65 million.
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the U.S., with a population of 621,849. Meaning that it is not part of any county.
Giraffes are 30 times more likely to get hit by lightning than people. True, there are only five well-documented fatal lightning strikes on giraffes between 1996 and 2010. However, due to the population of the species being just 140,000 during this time, it makes for about 0.003 lightning deaths per thousand giraffes each year. This is 30 times the equivalent fatality rate for humans.
0.5% of the male population are descended from Genghis Khan. (Scientists did a study in 2003 showing that about 16 million dudes share a Y chromosome with the famous Emperor.)
The median age of the world’s population is around 30 years, as of 2019.
There’s only one U.S. state capital without a McDonald’s. Montpelier, Vermont, doesn’t have any of those Golden Arches. It also happens to have the smallest population of any state capital, with just 7,500 residents.
The British Empire was the largest in world history. The British Empire was most powerful in the 1920s, when it controlled 23 per cent of the world’s population and approximately 13.7 million square miles of territory—or nearly a quarter of the Earth’s land area, according to a report from Statista.
Only 10% of the population is left-handed. And men are more likely to be left-handed.
You share your birthday with around 19 million people. Yep, not feeling so special now as given the global population of around 8 billion, there are at least nearly 20 million people who were born on the same day as you.
At any point in time, 0.7% of the world’s population is drunk. As you are reading this, 50 million people are drunk! Check out other fun facts about alcohol!
The population of the United States increases by one person every 12 seconds. Every eight seconds, a person is born. Every 25 seconds, an immigrant is added, and a death occurs every 13 seconds.
The Netherlands has the tallest population. At an average height of 72.36” (6.03 ft), the Netherlands is home to the tallest population on Earth.
Indonesia has the shortest population. On the flip side, the smallest population in the world are in Indonesia. It houses the world’s smallest average height at 62.2” (5.2 ft).
The people who are currently alive are only 7% of the total number of people who have ever lived. One of the fun facts that’ll make you realize how long humans have been around: According to the Population Reference Bureau, over 108 billion people have ever been born. At 7.5 billion, that’s only a meagre 7% of the people who have ever lived.
The red-billed quelea is the most common bird on Earth. You may have never seen one in your community, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t building a legion. These birds are native to sub-Saharan Africa, where they’re considered “agricultural pests” because their flocks can destroy entire crops. Their population fluctuates between 1 to 10 billion queleas, which makes scientists conclude that they are the most abundant birds on Earth.
The British Empire was the largest in the world. In the 1920s, the British Empire ruled over 23% of the world’s population. Their territory covered 13 million square miles. As such, the British Empire is considered the largest empire in history.
Connecticut accidentally issued an Emergency Evacuation Alert in 2005. This alert notified all residents that they needed to evacuate the state immediately. However, only 1% of its population tried to evacuate.
Slavery was once legal in Mauritania. This was legal until 2007. However, 1-4% of the population continues to live as slaves within its borders.
The insect population of the world is 1 billion times more than the world population. The world has 7 billion people living today. If you take that and multiply it by a billion, that’s a scary thought.
Michael Jordan makes a lot of money from Nike. This is more than what all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia annually make combined. This is enough money to be able to feel the entire world population a meal.
36% of the American population has stated that God has spoken to them. This totals about 118,008,000 individuals. More often these people suffer from hallucinations.
As of the beginning of 2004, the U.S. population increased by 1 every 12 seconds. A birth takes place in the U.S. every 8 seconds and an immigrant is added every 25 seconds. Death also occurs every 13 seconds.
10% of the world population is left-handed. Our first of our did you know facts are about left-handed people. It is said that men are more likely to be left-handed than women. Various studies have also suggested that the handedness of a person can be determined by the time they spend in the mother’s womb. Some studies also suggest that one’s heritage may also play a role in determining if someone will be left or right-handed.
Around 8% of the world’s population has an extra rib. This is known as the cervical rib and it comes from the seventh cervical vertebra. This is considered a congenital abnormality that is located above the normal first rib. There is a 1 in 500 chance that a person will be born with this condition.
You share your birthday with 19 million people. On average, a person will share a birthday with 19 million other people from a population of over 7 billion. If you were born on the least common day of the year, you would still share the same birthday as 18 million people.
The staple food of 50% of the world’s population is rice. Over 3.5 billion people rely on rice for more than 20% of their daily calorie intake.
The most followed sport in the world is soccer. An estimated 4 billion fans are active in supporting the soccer community. This is more than half of the total world population.
Musicians have shorter lifespans. Musicians live fast and die hard. According to a University of Sydney study, the average lifespan of a musician is 25 years shorter than the average U.S. population. The study examined artists’ deaths between 1950 and June 2014.
Norway’s reality TV is very different. Although reality TV in the U.S. is saturated with Kardashian-brand drama, it’s very different in Norway. Norway’s first significant “reality” TV show was a broadcast showing the Bergen Line. About 20% of the population watched the train for its entire 7-hour journey. This popularized “slow TV.” Now, Norwegians would watch coastal cruises, people knitting, and bird feeding. I guess that’s their ASMR.
A volcanic eruption once killed 80% of the Earth’s sheep. When the Laki volcanic fissure in Southern Iceland erupted for eight months in 1783, it killed off 80% of the sheep in the world. Additionally, roughly 25% of the world’s human population died.
Chickens outnumber humans. As of 2011, there has been a recorded number of 19 billion chickens – which is over twice the latest population count for humans (7.7 billion).
Spain has the lowest population density in Europe.
In 1998, more than 50% of Iceland’s population believed in the existence of elves.
There is a town in Nebraska called Monowi with a population of one. The only resident is a woman who serves as mayor, bartender, and librarian.
There are twice as many kangaroos in Australia as there are people. The kangaroo population is estimated at 40 million.
90% of Earth’s population lives in the Northern Hemisphere.
Lions are found in parts of Africa and a small population in the Gir Forest of India. They once roamed across much of Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Around 10% of the world’s population is left-handed.
Humpback whale songs spread like “cultural ripples from one population to another.”
1 tsp of neutron star weighs the same as the human population. A neutron star’s density is mind-boggling. These stars are composed almost entirely of neutrons packed together in a tiny radius. Just a teaspoonful of this material would weigh over a trillion kilograms — more than the weight of the entire human population (which reaches a few hundred billion kilograms). To make something as dense as a neutron star, the whole of humanity would need to be crammed into a space the size of a sugar cube.
There are stars we will never be able to see. Ever since the Big Bang, most objects in space have been moving away from one another. The expansion of the Universe is accelerating. This is one of the facts about space that has rocked the cosmological boat over the past few years. As regions of space are whizzing away from one another at an ever-increasing rate, the first population of stars to form in the Universe are now too far away for us to ever hope of spying on them – even using the best present or future telescope. Hope is not lost; we can attempt to spot them indirectly via the energetic bursts of radiation they emit at the end of their lives.
Asia is the largest continent on Earth. This also means it has the largest population with over 4.46 billion people!
Europe is the second smallest continent in size but the third largest in population. Europe is known for its diverse cultures, rich history and stunning landmarks. Despite being the second smallest continent in size (after Australia), Europe is home to a staggering population of over 746 million people, making it the third largest continent in terms of population (after Asia and Africa). Europe has one of the highest levels of urbanisation in the world, with over 75% of its population living in urban areas. With the world’s population expected to reach 9.7 billion in 2050, we must increase efforts to understand and mitigate the challenges brought by rapid and unplanned urbanisation, air pollution, as well as issues related to the management of water and energy. ESA and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), in collaboration with the Google Earth Engine team, have developed the World Settlement Footprint – the world’s most comprehensive dataset on human settlement. Featuring data from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 missions, this unprecedented collection of data on human settlement will advance our understanding of urbanisation on a global scale.
Gelotophobia is the fear of laughter. Those who suffer from gelotophobia respond to all laughter as if it is at their expense. Up to 13% of the population could be afraid of laughter.
If you were to remove all of the space from the atoms that make up every human on Earth, the entire world population could fit into an apple.
Africa’s population will more than double to 2.3 billion people by 2050.
A town in Antarctica forces would-be residents to have their appendices removed. Villas Las Estrellas lies on King George Island, one of Antarctica’s South Shetland Islands. The island itself has a rotating population of around 100 or so people, primarily made up of researchers and various military personnel. Because the island is so remote and the medical facilities there so small, anyone who wishes to live there must get their appendix taken out to ensure it doesn’t become a problem down the line.
As of 2024, 62.3% of the global population uses social media.
Mongolia has the world’s sparsest population and in some regions, you can go days without seeing another person.
The most common wild bird in the world isn’t the sparrow or blue jay—it’s the red-billed quelea, which lives in Africa and has an estimated population of 1.5 billion.
With 3.572 billion viewers, half the world’s population watched the 2018 FIFA World Cup of soccer (or football, as many international fans call it), which is held every four years. That number is on par with the 2016 Summer Olympics, but only a quarter of the world watched the less-popular Winter Olympics in 2018.
As of 1998, over 50% of Iceland’s population believed in the existence of elves.
A small population of Mammoths survived on Wrangel Island until 1650 BC, about 900 years after the construction of The Great Pyramid of Giza was completed.
Mammoth constructions. When Egypt’s major pyramids were being built, there remained a small population of woolly mammoths on Wrangel Island in the Arctic.
The great plague which lasted in London from 1665 to 1666 killed almost a quarter of London’s population.
In a survey conducted by BBC, it was found that 39% of the UK’s population were atheists.
Out of the UK’s total population, 83% live in urban areas and only 17% live in rural areas.
London is considered the most culturally diverse land in the world with 25% of its entire population born outside of England.
The diversity of London’s population is such that more than 300 languages are spoken there.
During the 1800s, the name Mary was so popular that nearly half of the female population was named Mary.
Populous England: England is the most populated nation in the United Kingdom, accounting for more than 80% of the total population.
Atheist Demographics: Atheists account for 24% of the UK population.
There will be more AI assistants than people in this world. Forecasts indicate that there will be 8.4 billion AI-powered digital voice assistant units in the world by 2024, which surpasses the total global population.