China vs World: Population, total

China
1.41 billion
in 2025
World
8.22 billion
in 2025
China rank
2nd
World rank
1st

Population, total over time

  • China
  • World
02.0B4.0B6.0B8.0B196019922025

How they compare

World currently reports 8.22 billion against 1.41 billion in China, a difference of 6.81 billion.

That makes World's figure about 5.8 times China's.

Across all 66 years both countries report, World has been ahead every year.

China ranks 2nd and World ranks 1st of 218 countries.

World has averaged higher in every one of the 7 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade China World Difference Ahead
1960s 714.95 million 3.29 billion 2.58 billion World
1970s 901.94 million 4.02 billion 3.12 billion World
1980s 1.05 billion 4.81 billion 3.77 billion World
1990s 1.20 billion 5.69 billion 4.49 billion World
2000s 1.30 billion 6.54 billion 5.24 billion World
2010s 1.37 billion 7.39 billion 6.02 billion World
2020s 1.41 billion 8.03 billion 6.62 billion World

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher population, total, China or World?
World, at 8.22 billion against 1.41 billion in China as of 2025.
What is the difference in population, total between China and World?
6.81 billion, with World ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for China and World?
66 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2025.
How do China and World rank globally for population, total?
China ranks 2nd and World ranks 1st of 218 countries.
Where does this data come from?
World Population Prospects, United Nations (UN), published as Population, total. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

China vs World: Population, total. Statizoid, drawing on World Population Prospects, United Nations (UN). Retrieved 23 September 2026, from https://climate.statizoid.com/compare/population-total/china/world/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://climate.statizoid.com/compare/population-total/china/world/">China vs World: Population, total</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Population, total
Source
World Population Prospects, United Nations (UN)
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
266 places, 17,526 data points, 1960–2025
Last refreshed

Total population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship. The values shown are midyear estimates.