List of continents by population

Source UN (World Population Prospects 2022)
Date29 Jan 2024

Asia is the most populous continent in the world, with 4.79 billion people accounting for nearly 58.94% of the world population as of 2024. Africa is the second most largest continent by population, with around 1.49 billion people, or 18.41% 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 742 million (9.13%), North America is home to around 608 million (7.49%), South America, the second least populated continent, has about 443 million inhabitants (5.45%). 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 2022).

Top three biggest subregions belong to Asia Continent : Southern Asia (2.05 bn), Eastern Asia (1.686 bn) and South-Eastern Asia (693 mn). 45.7% of the world's population lives in Southern Asia (25.24%) and Eastern Asia (20.46%). 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 (2.33%) 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 (0.66%), South America (0.70%) and North America (0.66%) are increasing with almost similar rate. Nine subregions have growth rate above 1%. Europe is the only continent with modest growth rate of -0.07% as lowest two ranked subregions are located in Europe. Southern Europe, Eastern Europe and Eastern Asia have negative growth rate.

With 35 mn more people in 2024, Africa is the top contributor of the total world population increment closely followed by Asia (32 mn).

Population of Europe has reached its peak level in 2020, Asia and South America is projected to peak in 2055 and.North America is projected to peak in 2072. Population of Africa and Oceania will not peak until 2100.

Continents by population

Rank Continent Population Share (%) Growth (2024)
20232024 Net changerate (%)
1 Jan1 July1 Jan1 July
1Asia4,736,907,3674,753,079,7274,769,252,0874,785,060,13158.9431,616,0880.66
2Africa1,443,404,3531,460,481,7721,477,559,1921,494,993,92418.4134,869,4632.33
3Europe742,617,238742,272,652741,928,067741,651,8669.13-552,402-0.07
4North America602,183,942604,182,520606,181,097608,160,0467.493,957,8960.65
5South America438,130,846439,719,008441,307,171442,860,8225.453,107,3020.70
6Oceania45,308,24945,575,76845,843,28646,109,2120.57531,8521.15
World 8,008,551,995 8,045,311,447 8,082,070,900 8,118,835,999 73,530,199 0.91

Continents by population (historical and projection)

Continent Population Growth rate (%) against 2024
1950200020502100 1950200020502100
Asia1,379,048,3703,736,037,8455,292,947,5714,674,249,207246.9828.0810.61-2.32
Africa227,549,258818,952,0572,485,135,5393,924,420,614557.0082.5566.23162.50
Europe549,721,718726,968,473703,007,486586,515,44734.912.02-5.21-20.92
North America216,904,521486,083,543679,488,046669,631,881180.3825.1111.7310.11
South America113,520,677349,634,282491,078,654425,793,942290.1126.6610.89-3.85
Oceania12,577,61231,222,77557,834,46568,711,947266.6047.6825.4349.02
World 2,499,322,157 6,148,898,975 9,709,491,761 10,349,323,038 224.84 32.04 19.59 27.47

Subregions by population

Rank Subregion Population Share (%) Growth (2024) Continent
20232024 Net changerate (%)
1 Jan1 July1 Jan1 July
4Eastern Africa478,953,939485,066,925491,179,911497,385,8166.1312,411,8092.50Africa
6Western Africa434,422,071439,868,541445,315,012450,876,8315.5511,123,6392.47Africa
10Northern Africa262,083,820264,205,998266,328,177268,459,9613.314,263,5691.59Africa
13Middle Africa199,042,475202,105,149205,167,824208,307,4382.576,279,2273.02Africa
17Southern Africa68,902,04869,235,15869,568,26869,963,8780.86791,2191.13Africa
16Central Asia77,609,31278,165,56878,721,82379,271,1590.981,098,6721.39Asia
2Eastern Asia1,662,914,2951,662,476,9371,662,039,5781,661,450,36620.46-1,178,425-0.07Asia
1Southern Asia2,016,644,5432,027,578,8762,038,513,2082,049,313,46125.2421,600,5051.05Asia
3South-Eastern Asia683,863,525686,824,689689,785,852692,671,3228.535,770,9400.83Asia
9Western Asia295,875,692298,033,659300,191,626302,353,8243.724,324,3961.43Asia
8Eastern Europe288,628,704288,176,491287,724,278287,340,6943.54-767,167-0.27Europe
15Northern Europe106,721,926106,896,543107,071,160107,243,3931.32344,4660.32Europe
14Southern Europe151,552,786151,357,685151,162,583150,980,4321.86-364,301-0.24Europe
11Western Europe195,713,822195,841,934195,970,046196,087,3462.42234,6000.12Europe
7Northern America377,824,592378,904,407379,984,222381,048,0054.692,127,5660.56North America
12Central America179,847,146180,643,728181,440,310182,236,4532.241,592,2850.87North America
18Caribbean44,512,20444,634,38544,756,56544,875,5880.55238,0450.53North America
5South America438,130,846439,719,008441,307,171442,860,8225.453,107,3020.70South America
19Australia/New Zealand31,515,46431,667,21131,818,95831,969,4210.39300,9250.94Oceania
20Melanesia12,524,31212,634,22812,744,14312,853,8240.16219,3621.71Oceania
21Polynesia726,779730,009733,238736,4140.016,3530.86Oceania
22Micronesia541,694544,321546,947549,5530.015,2120.95Oceania
World 8,008,551,995 8,045,311,447 8,082,070,900 8,118,835,999 73,530,199 0.91

Subregions by population (historical and projection)

Continent Population Growth rate (%) against 2024 Continent
1950200020502100 1950200020502100
Eastern Africa65,794,236258,473,864846,282,9041,338,985,917655.9792.4370.15169.20Africa
Western Africa70,239,992237,416,079773,342,8021,251,489,475541.9189.9171.52177.57Africa
Northern Africa50,057,402172,317,661373,587,082482,073,168436.3055.7939.1679.57Africa
Middle Africa26,634,41697,355,936406,380,251763,156,297682.10113.9695.09266.36Africa
Southern Africa14,823,21153,388,51885,542,50088,715,758371.9931.0522.2726.80Africa
Central Asia17,394,68555,939,120104,094,807126,076,583355.7241.7131.3159.04Asia
Eastern Asia670,121,4221,492,867,3811,522,820,192911,276,662147.9311.29-8.34-45.15Asia
Southern Asia475,354,9661,472,489,8762,475,946,9532,433,582,888331.1139.1720.8218.75Asia
South-Eastern Asia164,797,842525,397,454789,648,154740,739,535320.3231.8414.006.94Asia
Western Asia51,379,454189,344,014400,437,465462,573,540488.4759.6832.4452.99Asia
Eastern Europe220,217,079304,568,104259,566,353202,515,69830.48-5.66-9.67-29.52Europe
Northern Europe77,453,46694,435,136113,135,088112,768,93638.4613.565.495.15Europe
Southern Europe108,574,670145,891,019136,019,25893,984,81739.063.49-9.91-37.75Europe
Western Europe143,476,503182,074,215194,286,786177,245,99736.677.70-0.92-9.61Europe
Northern America162,089,353313,205,695421,397,985448,026,120135.0921.6610.5917.58North America
Central America37,649,467134,569,095210,340,583181,688,287384.0335.4215.42-0.30North America
Caribbean17,165,70138,308,75347,749,47839,917,474161.4317.146.40-11.05North America
South America113,520,677349,634,282491,078,654425,793,942290.1126.6610.89-3.85South America
Australia/New Zealand10,088,77522,873,22938,141,92144,158,741216.8839.7719.3138.13Oceania
Melanesia2,071,7987,184,39518,161,70822,985,670520.4278.9141.2978.82Oceania
Polynesia255,382639,764878,491911,479188.3615.1119.2923.77Oceania
Micronesia161,656525,386652,346656,057239.954.6018.7019.38Oceania
World 2,499,322,157 6,148,898,975 9,709,491,761 10,349,323,038 224.84 32.04 19.59 27.47