List of continents by population

Source	UN (World Population Prospects 2024)
Date	16 Aug 2024

Asia is the most populous continent in the world, with 4.81 billion people accounting for nearly 58.89% of the world population as of 2024. Africa is the second most largest continent by population, with around 1.52 billion people, or 18.56% of the world's population. Only these two continents have crossed one billion milestone. Asia and Africa, together share over 77% of the global population. Europe has a population of around 745 million (9.13%), North America is home to around 613 million (7.51%), South America, the second least populated continent, has about 436 million inhabitants (5.34%). Oceania (46 million) is the smallest continent on the basis population if Antarctica is excluded as there is no population estimates for Antarctica by UN (World Population Prospects 2024).

Top three biggest subregions belong to Asia Continent : Southern Asia (2.06 bn), Eastern Asia (1.66 bn) and South-Eastern Asia (695 mn). 45.58% of the world's population lives in Southern Asia (25.29%) and Eastern Asia (20.29%). Southern Asia includes India, the most populous country and Eastern Asia includes China, the 2nd most populous country. Micronesia is the smallest subregion followed by Polynesia having less than 1 mn people.

Africa has the highest population growth rate as all three subregions growing over 2% are in Africa. Middle Africa has highest rate of over 3% followed by Eastern Africa and Western Africa growing over 2%. The population growth rate of Africa (2.30%) continent is almost double of the growth rate of second most fastest growing continent Oceania (1.15%). Except Africa and Oceania, remaining four continent have growth grate below 1%. Population of Asia (0.60%), South America (0.59%) and North America (0.70%) are increasing with almost similar rate. Eight subregions have growth rate above 1%. Europe is the only continent with negative growth rate of -0.08% as lowest two ranked subregions are located in Europe. Southern Europe, Eastern Europe and Eastern Asia have negative growth rate.

With 34 mn more people in 2024, Africa is the top contributor of the total world population increment closely followed by Asia (29 mn).

Population of Europe has reached its peak level in 2020, South America is the next continent that is projected to peak in 2049. Asia and.North America are projected to peak in 2054 and 2083, resp. Population of Africa and Oceania will not peak until 2100.

Continents by population

Rank	Continent	Population				Share (%)	Growth (2024)
		2023		2024			Net change	rate (%)
		1 Jan	1 July	1 Jan	1 July		Net change	rate (%)
1	Asia	4,763,516,247	4,778,004,486	4,792,492,724	4,806,898,007	58.89	28,810,566	0.60
2	Africa	1,463,627,143	1,480,770,525	1,497,913,907	1,515,140,849	18.56	34,453,884	2.30
3	Europe	745,825,460	745,602,875	745,380,289	745,083,824	9.13	-592,931	-0.08
4	North America	606,521,912	608,770,083	611,018,254	613,149,875	7.51	4,263,243	0.70
5	South America	431,715,134	433,024,175	434,333,216	435,611,302	5.34	2,556,171	0.59
6	Oceania	45,299,668	45,562,787	45,825,906	46,088,716	0.56	525,620	1.15
	World	8,056,505,564	8,091,734,930	8,126,964,296	8,161,972,572		70,016,553	0.86

Continents by population (historical and projection)

Continent	Population				Growth rate (%) against 2024
Continent	1950	2000	2050	2100	1950	2000	2050	2100
Asia	1,368,075,415	3,747,780,304	5,280,378,401	4,612,667,565	255.83	29.54	9.47	-4.56
Africa	227,776,419	830,582,528	2,466,647,618	3,813,883,603	579.72	86.83	59.78	149.33
Europe	548,867,473	728,164,209	703,027,759	592,250,635	36.34	2.29	-5.45	-20.60
North America	222,818,375	485,804,657	687,962,143	709,315,901	177.05	27.07	12.20	15.60
South America	112,973,121	348,018,671	468,674,488	379,097,351	291.92	26.42	7.29	-13.51
Oceania	12,582,044	31,352,624	57,688,178	72,945,697	273.52	48.98	24.03	57.62
World	2,493,092,848	6,171,702,993	9,664,378,587	10,180,160,751	231.67	33.72	17.65	24.12

Subregions by population

Rank	Subregion	Population				Share (%)	Growth (2024)		Continent
		2023		2024			Net change	rate (%)
		1 Jan	1 July	1 Jan	1 July		Net change	rate (%)
4	Eastern Africa	481,376,957	487,857,331	494,337,705	500,703,846	6.13	12,732,282	2.58	Africa
5	Western Africa	440,952,989	446,044,485	451,135,981	456,251,329	5.59	10,230,695	2.27	Africa
10	Northern Africa	266,888,866	268,541,105	270,193,344	272,131,339	3.33	3,875,989	1.43	Africa
11	Middle Africa	202,700,272	206,129,903	209,559,534	212,915,636	2.61	6,712,203	3.20	Africa
17	Southern Africa	71,708,059	72,197,701	72,687,343	73,138,701	0.90	902,715	1.24	Africa
16	Central Asia	80,092,661	80,810,163	81,527,665	82,225,865	1.01	1,396,400	1.71	Asia
2	Eastern Asia	1,662,008,090	1,660,028,546	1,658,049,001	1,656,115,405	20.29	-3,867,192	-0.23	Asia
1	Southern Asia	2,032,699,250	2,043,083,160	2,053,467,070	2,064,056,491	25.29	21,178,842	1.03	Asia
3	South-Eastern Asia	687,564,643	690,117,184	692,669,726	695,149,428	8.52	4,959,404	0.72	Asia
8	Western Asia	301,151,603	303,965,432	306,779,262	309,350,818	3.79	5,143,112	1.68	Asia
9	Eastern Europe	286,750,088	286,047,445	285,344,802	285,003,031	3.49	-683,541	-0.24	Europe
15	Northern Europe	107,925,860	108,297,394	108,668,929	108,964,198	1.34	590,539	0.54	Europe
14	Southern Europe	151,930,785	151,720,922	151,511,059	151,253,985	1.85	-514,148	-0.34	Europe
12	Western Europe	199,218,727	199,537,113	199,855,499	199,862,609	2.45	14,219	0.01	Europe
7	Northern America	381,661,218	382,902,742	384,144,265	385,295,105	4.72	2,301,680	0.60	North America
13	Central America	180,713,451	181,618,074	182,522,698	183,409,960	2.25	1,774,525	0.97	North America
18	Caribbean	44,147,243	44,249,267	44,351,291	44,444,810	0.54	187,038	0.42	North America
6	South America	431,715,134	433,024,175	434,333,216	435,611,302	5.34	2,556,171	0.59	South America
19	Australia/New Zealand	31,472,159	31,623,960	31,775,761	31,927,149	0.39	302,776	0.95	Oceania
20	Melanesia	12,613,630	12,724,064	12,834,498	12,944,900	0.16	220,805	1.72	Oceania
21	Polynesia	689,436	689,523	689,610	689,744	0.01	267	0.04	Oceania
22	Micronesia	524,443	525,240	526,037	526,923	0.01	1,772	0.34	Oceania
	World	8,056,505,564	8,091,734,930	8,126,964,296	8,161,972,572		70,016,553	0.86

Subregions by population (historical and projection)

Continent	Population				Growth rate (%) against 2024				Continent
Continent	1950	2000	2050	2100	1950	2000	2050	2100	Continent
Eastern Africa	65,735,637	259,491,404	855,453,353	1,382,604,934	679.73	98.14	67.35	173.25	Africa
Western Africa	70,442,149	242,586,127	734,831,108	1,069,781,674	561.26	92.84	58.16	132.12	Africa
Northern Africa	50,045,357	175,569,257	373,025,622	462,424,933	454.15	57.58	35.49	68.77	Africa
Middle Africa	26,735,290	99,234,666	411,712,069	790,422,667	715.84	121.50	88.39	266.65	Africa
Southern Africa	14,817,986	53,701,075	91,625,466	108,649,394	401.60	37.65	24.11	47.78	Africa
Central Asia	17,575,681	56,180,715	113,612,322	149,900,193	378.57	48.44	36.33	80.95	Asia
Eastern Asia	671,914,904	1,498,971,559	1,467,038,093	769,522,840	148.22	10.75	-10.96	-53.83	Asia
Southern Asia	464,073,744	1,478,613,594	2,505,837,296	2,489,357,114	351.76	41.67	20.52	19.79	Asia
South-Eastern Asia	164,549,272	527,123,975	774,570,267	679,274,025	329.02	33.34	10.98	-2.86	Asia
Western Asia	49,961,813	186,890,460	419,320,422	524,613,393	531.97	68.81	33.85	68.30	Asia
Eastern Europe	220,505,491	304,612,977	255,659,220	200,167,856	29.98	-6.74	-9.98	-29.82	Europe
Northern Europe	77,377,473	94,555,173	115,849,083	110,432,485	41.79	15.73	5.99	0.97	Europe
Southern Europe	108,563,322	145,705,973	135,237,636	96,332,970	39.68	3.74	-10.16	-36.39	Europe
Western Europe	142,421,189	183,290,086	196,281,820	185,317,324	40.63	9.26	-1.72	-7.31	Europe
Northern America	168,009,338	312,499,985	426,579,885	474,966,034	131.79	24.28	10.25	23.00	North America
Central America	37,615,700	135,055,823	215,385,141	197,004,624	396.38	37.57	16.70	6.62	North America
Caribbean	17,193,337	38,248,849	45,997,117	37,345,243	161.60	17.00	3.33	-16.40	North America
South America	112,973,121	348,018,671	468,674,488	379,097,351	291.92	26.42	7.29	-13.51	South America
Australia/New Zealand	10,088,013	22,990,045	38,262,257	48,955,978	222.67	40.31	18.93	52.94	Oceania
Melanesia	2,076,908	7,227,820	18,090,929	22,581,827	535.20	83.37	37.93	73.02	Oceania
Polynesia	255,407	625,628	735,268	754,397	173.51	10.77	6.47	9.27	Oceania
Micronesia	161,716	509,131	599,723	653,495	229.18	4.12	13.36	23.73	Oceania
World	2,493,092,848	6,171,702,993	9,664,378,587	10,180,160,751	231.67	33.72	17.65	24.12