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

Add a country

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 - KinshasaSouth AfricaBelgium
51,18146,25710,227
52,78246,95810,252
54,45347,82010,288
56,17048,48010,334
57,86048,95110,377
59,59949,47810,422
61,47450,05410,480
63,47950,66710,549
65,59051,33910,627
67,80052,07710,711
70,11452,86210,797
72,55053,68210,897
75,13854,51811,039
77,79255,35611,108
80,53456,21511,160
83,36857,07511,210
86,22957,94711,275
89,19358,83011,332
92,20959,71511,376
95,23260,59511,429
98,32061,46911,491
101,49962,35511,546
104,76762,90011,594
108,17163,38211,695

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

South Africa

  • 1700–1900 (Cape Colony): Fourie, J. and Van Zanden, J.L. (2013). GDP in the Dutch Cape Colony: the Nationals Accounts of a Slave-Based Society, South African Journal of Economics, vol. 81 (4): 467 - 490

Belgium

  • 1: Scheidel, W. and Friesen, S. J., ‘The size of the economy and the distribution of income in the Roman Empire’, Journal of Roman Studies, 99 (2009), pp. 61–91
  • 1500- 1846: Buyst, E. (2011), “Towards Estimates of Long Term Growth in the Southern Low Countries, ca.1500-1846”, Results presented at the Conference on Quantifying Long Run Economic Development, Venice, 22-24 March, 2011
  • 1846-1913: J. Gadisseur, "Contribution à l'étude de la production agricole en Belgique de 1846 à 1913", Revue belge d'histoire contemporaine, vol. IV, 1-2, 1973,
  • 1913-1950: C. Carbonnelle, "Recherches sur levolution de la production en Belgique de 1900à 1957", Cahiers Economiques de Bruxelles, no. 3, April 1959, p. 358.

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