World Population Distribution 2024

Starting Point: The Global Figure

Imagine you are observing the Earth from space, like a demographer-satellite. The first question you’d naturally ask is:
How many people live on this planet?

As per the UN World Population Prospects (2024 Revision), the world’s population in mid-2024 stood at approximately 8.16 billion.

Let’s now ask: How is this huge number spread across the continents?

Continental Breakdown: Who Hosts How Many?

Now think of the world population as a pie. Let’s see how this pie is sliced among different continents:

Asia – The Giant Shareholder

• Population: ~4.81 billion
• Share: ≈58.9% of the global total
  This means almost 6 out of every 10 people on Earth live in Asia.

It’s populous because of densely populated regions like South Asia (India, Bangladesh) and East Asia (China, Japan, etc.).

Africa – The Rising Contender

• Population: ~1.52 billion
• Share: ≈18.6%

Africa is the second most populous continent. With high birth rates and a youthful demographic profile, it’s growing rapidly and expected to play a major role in future population trends.

Europe – Aging But Stable

• Population: ~745 million
• Share: ≈9.1%

Europe is aging. Growth is slow or even negative in many countries. Yet it holds a significant share historically.

North America – Wealthy But Lightly Populated

• Population: ~613 million
• Share: ≈7.5%

Despite being economically powerful, North America’s population share is modest.

Latin America & Caribbean – Diverse Yet Modest

• Population: ~436 million
• Share: ≈5.3%

This region includes vibrant populations from Brazil to the Caribbean islands, yet their total share is small.

Oceania (incl. Australia) – The Sparse Continent

• Population: ~46 million
• Share: ≈0.5%

This is the least populated inhabited continent. Much of Australia’s interior and Pacific islands are sparsely settled.

Antarctica – Practically Uninhabited

Antarctica is not even counted in this demographic tally as it has no permanent human population, only temporary researchers and explorers.

A Summary Insight

Asia + Africa = Over 77% of the world’s population.
That means more than three-fourths of humanity lives on just these two continents.

What About Population Density?

Now let’s shift from total numbers to density—that is, how many people live per square kilometre of land. This tells us how tightly people are packed in different areas.

Asia: Highly Dense (~100+ persons/km²)

• This is due to densely settled areas like:
  • Bangladesh (over 1,000/km²!)
  • Taiwan, India, Japan, China’s eastern parts

👉 It’s like having many people living in small apartments of a crowded city.

Africa: (~50/km²)

• Why? Because of large uninhabited or sparsely populated regions:
  • Sahara Desert, Savannah grasslands, Congo Basin rainforests
    Even though the population is growing, the vast land keeps density relatively low.

Europe: 32/km²

• More balanced. Urbanization is high, but land use is efficient.
  It’s like a well-planned town—not too crowded, not too empty.

North & South America: Light Density (~25/km² each)

• Despite urban centers like New York or São Paulo, vast interiors like Amazon basin and Canadian wilderness keep the average low.

Oceania: Very Sparse (~5/km²)

• Especially in Australia, where the outback is almost empty.
  Think of it as a huge apartment where people only live in one corner—the coasts.

Comparative Surprise

In contrast to the average, some Asian countries like Bangladesh or Taiwan have more than 1,000 people per km²!

That’s like stuffing hundreds of people into one small room—highlighting the stress on resources, infrastructure, and planning in such regions.

✅ Conclusion

To summarize:

The world’s population is unevenly distributed—Asia and Africa together dominate.

• Population density varies greatly—from highly packed nations like Bangladesh to sparse regions like Australia’s interior.
• Understanding where people live and why is foundational for grasping global demographic, economic, and environmental patterns.

Hemispheric Distribution

Let’s start with a simple question:

“If you were to draw a line around the middle of the Earth—called the Equator—on which side do most people live: North or South?”

The answer is unambiguous:
👉 Over 85% to 90% of the global population lives in the Northern Hemisphere.

❓ But why?

Let’s see:

✅ Geography Favors the North

The Northern Hemisphere includes:

• Asia (most populous continent),
• Europe,
• North America, and large parts of Africa.

These are land-rich and civilization-rich regions.

On the other hand, the Southern Hemisphere has:

• Only part of South America,
• About one-third of Africa,
• And Oceania, which includes Australia and scattered Pacific islands.

👉 So the basic formula is:
More land + more civilizations historically = more people.

🧭 Latitudinal Distribution: People Prefer the Middle Latitudes

Now let’s look at another perspective:

“If you slice the Earth horizontally by latitudes (like cutting a globe into rings), where are most people living?”

🌴 The Tropics (23.5°N to 23.5°S)

This is the Earth’s tropical belt—hot, humid, and near the equator.

• Contains about 40% of the global population.
• Densely populated regions include:
  • India,
  • Southeast Asia (e.g., Indonesia, Philippines),
  • Equatorial Africa, and
  • Brazil in South America.

But remember, even though the tropics are dense in some pockets, large parts—like the Amazon or the Congo Basin—are not favorable for large populations due to difficult living conditions (dense forests, poor soils, diseases).

🌤️ Subtropical and Temperate Zones (20°N to 50°N)

This belt is where over 60% of humanity lives.
It stretches across:

• China and East Asia
• The Indo-Gangetic Plain of South Asia
• Europe
• Eastern USA

Why is this region so preferred?

✅ Moderate climate—neither too hot nor too cold.
✅ Fertile River valleys—like the Ganges, Yangtze, Danube.
✅ Long history of settled agriculture and civilizations.

👉 Think of it as the “Goldilocks zone”—not too extreme, just right for human flourishing.

🧊 Polar and High-Latitude Zones: Too Cold for Comfort

What about areas near the poles?

• North of 60°N (e.g., Arctic Russia, Greenland)
• South of 40°S (e.g., southern tip of South America, Antarctica)

These zones are almost uninhabited, except:

• Some indigenous groups (like the Inuit or Saami)
• Research stations (in Antarctica)

Why?

Because extreme cold, poor soils, and long winters make life very difficult.

👉 In human terms, these regions are like the attic or basement of the Earth—rarely visited, sparsely used, and mostly for specialists (like researchers).

📌 Real-World High-Density Clusters (within 15°–35°N)

This is where population really packs in, almost like metro cities in a country.

Examples:

• Indo-Gangetic Plain (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh)
• Eastern China
• Parts of Europe
• Eastern USA

These areas combine moderate climate, fertile soil, long rivers, and ancient civilizations—perfect for high-density human settlement.

✅ Conclusion: Where Do People Prefer to Live on Earth?

Let’s summarize this:

Region	Population Share	Why?
Northern Hemisphere	85–90%	More land, historical civilizations
Southern Hemisphere	10–15%	Less land, harsh interiors, fewer early civilizations
Tropical Belt (23.5°N–23.5°S)	~40%	Dense in parts, but limited by forests & diseases
Temperate/Subtropical (20°–50°N)	60%+	Moderate climate, fertile valleys, urban growth
Polar/High Latitudes	Virtually uninhabited	Too cold, poor infrastructure

Population Clusters: Humanity’s Hotspots

Let’s begin with a simple image.

Imagine Earth as a massive map glowing brightly in spots where people are concentrated—like clusters of bulbs lighting up a dark room. These bright patches are population clusters.

These are not just areas with people—they are dense hubs, where millions or even billions live in close proximity.

✅ The Two Largest Clusters on Earth

A. South Asia Cluster

• Includes: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka.
• Total: Over 2 billion people.

👉 This region alone houses 1 in every 4 people on Earth.

Why is it so densely populated?

• Fertile river valleys (like the Ganges),
• Monsoon agriculture,
• Ancient civilizations,
• And historically high birth rates.

B. East Asia Cluster

• Includes: China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan.
• Together with South Asia, these two regions account for over 40% of the world’s population.

These are regions of ancient agricultural development, highly organized societies, and intense urbanization (especially in Japan and China’s eastern coastal areas).

✅ Other Notable Clusters

• Western & Central Europe: Densely settled with advanced urban infrastructure.
• Eastern North America: A dense corridor stretching from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Seaboard—including cities like New York, Washington D.C., Toronto, etc.
• Emerging Clusters:
  • West Africa (notably Nigeria, especially Lagos),
  • Southeast Asia (e.g. Indonesia, Philippines).

These newer clusters are rapidly urbanizing and becoming economic hubs.

🧊 The Non-Ecumene: Where People Don’t Live

Now let’s flip the coin.

Just as some areas are glowing with people, many other vast regions are dim or dark—almost empty.

This brings us to the concept of non-ecumene.

📖 What is Ecumene?

The ecumene refers to the permanently inhabited parts of the world—places where people live year-round in organized settlements.

In contrast, non-ecumene areas are:

• Sparsely populated, or
• Uninhabited altogether.

✅ Examples of Non-Ecumene Areas

Let’s look at some of these “human deserts”:

• Deserts:
  • Sahara, Arabian Desert, Gobi, Australian Outback
  • Extremely dry, water-scarce regions—like Earth’s “no-go zones” for population.
• High Mountains & Plateaus:
  • Himalayas, Tibetan Plateau, Andes, Rocky Mountains
  • Cold, rugged, and less arable—difficult for permanent settlement.
• Polar Regions:
  • Arctic and Antarctica
  • Too cold for year-round civilian life, mostly used for research.
• Dense Jungles:
  • Like the Amazon and Congo rainforests, which are biodiversity hotspots but hostile to dense human settlement due to inaccessibility and diseases.

👉 These are Earth’s “population shadow zones”—vast in area, but almost absent in people.

🏙️ Rural vs. Urban

Let’s now ask: Where do people live—not in terms of geography, but lifestyle?

Are they mostly in villages and farmlands (rural), or in cities and towns (urban)?

✅ Urban Majority (2024 Status)

About 55% of the world’s population now lives in urban areas.

That’s more than half the global population!

This shift from rural to urban is called urbanization, and it’s a defining trend of the modern world.

🏙️ Urban Densities: When Cities Become Crowded Islands

Cities, especially in developing countries, are densely packed.

Examples of megacities with extreme population densities:

• Dhaka, Manila, Mumbai
  → These can have 20,000 to 40,000 people per km² in their core areas!

👉 To visualize: That’s like trying to fit an entire small town into a single square kilometer!

🌾 Rural Areas: The Spread-Out Life

By contrast, rural areas—villages, farms, remote hamlets—have much lower population densities.

• Usually, a few dozen to a few hundred per km².
• Slightly higher in fertile regions like the Nile Delta or Indo-Gangetic plain.

🌍 Urbanization Rates by Region (As of 2025)

Region	Urbanization Level
North America	> 80% urban
Europe	> 75% urban
Latin America	> 80% urban
Asia	~40–50% urban (and growing)
Africa	~40–50% urban (and growing)
World Wide	~55-60%

👉 So while Western regions are already predominantly urban, Asia and Africa are currently undergoing rapid urbanization.

This creates both opportunities (economic growth) and challenges (slums, pollution, infrastructure stress).

✅ Conclusion: Where and How Humanity Lives

In a nutshell:

• Humanity is clustered, not scattered.
• South Asia and East Asia are the most densely inhabited.
• Ecumene includes all places fit for permanent human habitation.
• Non-ecumene areas remain largely untouched.
• Urban areas are growing rapidly—both in numbers and in density.

So, the story of human population is not one of uniform spread, but of concentration, contrast, and continuous change.

Elevation Effects: Why Most People Live Low

🧭 Population and Altitude – A Natural Filter

Human populations overwhelmingly prefer low elevations—for a very simple reason: climate, oxygen, and farming conditions are favorable at lower altitudes.

Think of it like this: The higher you go, the thinner the air, the harsher the cold, and the poorer the soil. That’s nature’s way of saying, “Fewer humans, please 😀!”

📊 Key Elevation Data (2024 Estimates)

Elevation Zone	Population Estimate	% of World Total
Below 1,500 m	Vast majority ~7.66 billion	≈94%)
Above 1,500 m	≈500 million	≈6%
Above 2,500 m	≈82 million	≈1%
Above 3,500 m	≈14–15 million	≈0.2%

🌍 Where Do High-Altitude Populations Live?

Highland populations are concentrated in specific regions:

• Ethiopian Highlands
• Andes Mountains (Peru, Bolivia)
• Tibetan Plateau & Himalayan fringes
  → These areas have adapted communities with cultural, physiological, and agricultural adaptations.

Yet, above 4,000 meters, population becomes negligible—except for a few nomads or research stations.

In short: Elevation, like climate and latitude, helps define the ecumene.

Demographic Transition

Now let’s shift from “Where people live” to “How population changes over time”—the domain of Demographic Transition Theory (DTT). More about this later on.

DTT explains how birth and death rates change as societies develop economically and socially.

It’s like a 4–5 stage journey from high growth to low or even negative growth.

🌍 Developed World: The Endgame of Transition

Countries in Europe, North America, Japan have completed this transition:

• Birth rate ≈ Death rate (or even lower)
• Natural growth ≈ 0 or negative
• Aging population, shrinking labor force

Example:

• Europe’s population is declining:
  Growth rate ≈ –0.1% (2024)
  Eastern & Southern Europe (e.g., Russia, Italy, Bulgaria) are already shrinking.

👉 Developed countries are now worried not about population explosion, but population implosion.

🌍 Developing World: Early or Middle Transition

✅ Africa – Early stage of transition:

• High fertility (often 4+ children per woman)
• Rapid growth: ~2.3% per year (2024)
• Young population, strong momentum for future growth

🟨 Asia – Mixed transition status:

• China: Already in low-growth mode (will decline soon)
• India & Southeast Asia:
  • Moderate growth (~0.6–0.7% annually)
  • Fertility is falling, but still above replacement in many areas.

👉 So while Asia is slowing, Africa remains the main engine of global population growth.

📉 Global Trend: Fertility Falling

Let’s look at the big picture:

🔻 Global Fertility Rate
1960s → ~5 children per woman
2023 → ~2.3 children per woman

As a result, global population growth is slowing, even though absolute numbers are still rising due to momentum.

🌐 The Emerging Demographic Geography

Here’s the geographical implication of this uneven demographic transition:

Region	Population Trend	Characteristics
Tropical/Subtropical Africa & Asia	Growing rapidly	Young, high fertility
Temperate Europe/East Asia	Shrinking/stagnant	Aging, low fertility, low growth

🌍 This is shifting the “global population center” southward.

Over time:

• The global demographic weight will move toward the Global South.
• The world population may stabilize by mid-21st century.

🧠 Conclusion: Interlinking Elevation, Ecology & Demography

Let’s tie it all together.

• Where people live is not random—it’s shaped by elevation, latitude, climate, and historical factors.
• The ecumene is largely lowland, mid-latitude, and temperate.
• Population growth patterns are geographically uneven, reflecting each region’s place in the demographic transition.
• Over time, we’re likely to see:
  • Shrinking Europe and East Asia
  • Rising Africa and South Asia
  • A southward demographic shift in the global population landscape.

So, Population Geography isn’t just about numbers—it’s about patterns, processes, and possibilities for the future of humanity.

If you are interested in World Population history you can watch this beautiful video: World Population and for further analysis click here.