Skip to content
ChartBasis
Choose a language: English

Population, long-run history: compare countries

See Population, long-run history for up to four countries side by side.

Countries being compared

Four countries are being compared, the most the chart can show clearly. Remove one to add another.

Population, long-run history by country

Population, long-run history

Annual, Persons, thousands

Source: Maddison Project Database 2023
Population, long-run history: latest observations by country
Date Congo - KinshasaUnited StatesEcuadorIceland
51,181279,04012,268277
52,782282,16212,446281
54,453284,96912,629285
56,170287,62512,827288
57,860290,10813,074289
59,599292,80513,368293
61,474295,51713,661296
63,479298,38013,915304
65,590301,23114,133311
67,800304,09414,352319
70,114306,77214,569319
72,550309,32714,786318
75,138311,58315,002319
77,792313,87815,218321
80,534316,06015,433324
83,368318,38615,647327
86,229320,73915,860331
89,193323,07216,072335
92,209325,12216,282343
95,232326,83816,489353
98,320328,33016,693361
101,499331,51216,894366
104,767332,03217,093372
108,171333,28817,288380

Source: Bolt, J. and van Zanden, J.L. (2024), Maddison style estimates of the evolution of the world economy: A new 2023 update, Journal of Economic Surveys, 1-41, DOI 10.1111/joes.12618. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. The original sources are listed on each page.

All data sources

Original sources of these estimates

GDP pc: 2008 - 2022: Total Economy Database the Conference Board for all countries included in TED. Otherwise UN national accounts statistics

United States

  • 1650 - 1790: McCusker, John J., ‘Colonial Statistics’, Historical Statistics of the United States: Earliest Time to the Present, in S. B. Carter, S. S. Gartner, M. R. Haineset al. New York, Cambridge University Press. V-671.
  • 1790 - 1870: Sutch, R. (2006). National Income and Product. Historical Statistics of the United States: Earliest Time to the Present, in S. B. Carter, S. S. Gartner, M. R. Haineset al. New York, Cambridge University Press III-23-25.
  • 1800-1830: Prados de la Escosura, L. (2009). “Lost Decades? Economic Performance in Post-Independence Latin America,” Journal of Latin America Studies 41: 279–307. (updated data)
  • 1820-1950: GDP movement from Maddison (1995a), amended for 1820–70 to include income of the indigenous population (taken to be $400 per capita in 1820 and 1870).

Ecuador

  • 1833-1938: Prados de la Escosura, L. (2009). “Lost Decades? Economic Performance in Post-Independence Latin America,” Journal of Latin America Studies 41: 279–307. (updated data). We use the growth rate between 1933 and 1938 from Prados de la Escosura (2009) and link that to the 1939 level of Maddison’s original estimates.

Iceland

  • 1870-1945: Jonsson, G. (1998). The gross domestic product of Iceland, 1870-1945. Nordiska Historiska Nasjonalregnkaper, Artikkelsamling from Workshop IV, Solstrand 13-15 NOvember 1998.

No separate list is published for Congo - Kinshasa; the database as a whole is cited above.