Countries Resized by Population on the World Map (0 – 2100)

The world map with every country resized to match its population, 328 steps between year 0 and 2100: India and China swap first place twice, and Pakistan, Nigeria and DR Congo swell as China shrinks. The map is an Equal Earth projection without Antarctica. Hawaii and the Pacific island states (Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati, French Polynesia and others) lie beyond the edges of the frame but are included in the totals, and Gibraltar and Tokelau are too small to appear. Crimea is drawn as part of Ukraine, following UN General Assembly resolution 68/262, which is also how the UN's population figures count its people. In this data the world peaks at 10.29 billion people in 2084, and by 2100 China has fewer than half the 1.43 billion people it had at its 2021 peak. New Zealand only appears from 1200, when HYDE's estimates first place people there. Ireland before 1950 is rebuilt on today's borders from the CSO's censuses (1841–1946) and island-wide estimates scaled to the 26 counties, and the UK has Ireland taken out for 1810–1929, because the long-run series counts the whole island inside the UK in those years. How it's built: each shape starts as the country's real outline on an equal-area projection of Natural Earth's borders, then a flow-based (diffusion) cartogram grows or shrinks it until its area is proportional to its population at that step, with neighbours kept touching. Population comes from Our World in Data's long-run series: HYDE 3.3 model estimates up to 1799, Gapminder for 1800–1949 and, from 1950, the UN's World Population Prospects 2024, whose medium projection supplies the years 2024 to 2100. A few countries jump in 1800 and 1950, where one source hands over to the next, and places with no figure yet shrink to slivers. All 328 steps get the same screen time: 100 years per step from year 0, then 10 years from 1700 and a single year from 1800, and the caption under the clock says which. Shapes use today's borders and flags in every year, so each one stands for the land of a present-day country rather than whichever state ruled it. Borders are Natural Earth's de facto lines, except Crimea, drawn with Ukraine per UN resolution 68/262; they are a drawing convention, not a position on any dispute. 0:00 Year 0: 100-year steps 0:50 1700: 10-year steps 1:17 1800: one year per step 5:50 1900 8:07 1950: UN estimates begin 10:23 2000 11:29 2024: UN projection begins 12:40 2050 13:48 2075 to 2100 Data sources: population, Our World in Data long-run series built from HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN World Population Prospects 2024 (accessed 2026-09-28); borders, Natural Earth 1:50m Admin 0 countries; Ireland before 1950, Central Statistics Office census counts 1841–1946 plus Gapminder, Maddison and Dickson, Ó Gráda and Daultrey all-island estimates. Music: "Heaven and Hell" by Jeremy Blake (YouTube Audio Library) A new data video every day. Subscribe to Cat-alytics 🐱 #India #China #Pakistan #Nigeria #WorldMap #Population #Cartogram