What is the most populous country in the world?

India is the most populous country in the world.

India’s population surpassed China’s during the 2020s, and United Nations estimates listed roughly 1.43 billion residents for India in 2023. Because population figures are estimates and change continuously, rankings can depend on the date and source, but India is the accepted current answer.

India’s enormous population is spread across a highly diverse landscape, from the densely settled Indo-Gangetic Plain to major urban regions such as Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata. The country’s population growth has slowed compared with earlier decades, even as its total population remains the world’s largest.

A frequent mix-up is choosing China because it held the top position for many decades and still has a population close to India’s. Another distinction matters too: the most populous country is not necessarily the country with the greatest population density, since density depends on population relative to land area.