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 United StatesGermanyMalawiLuxembourg
279,04081,43911,310433
282,16281,47411,658438
284,96981,53412,020443
287,62581,59512,395448
290,10881,56612,786454
292,80581,47313,196460
295,51781,35413,625467
298,38081,19014,072474
301,23181,00914,539482
304,09480,78115,026491
306,77280,50015,525500
309,32780,30116,028509
311,58380,29216,534521
313,87880,44317,042533
316,06080,66317,551547
318,38681,00018,060560
320,73981,70418,571571
323,07282,36619,086586
325,12282,67419,603599
326,83882,92320,122610
328,33083,11020,640623
331,51283,17821,159633
332,03283,21321,677643
333,28883,81122,239651

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).

Germany

  • 1500-1850: Pfister, U. (2022). Economic Growth in Germany, 1500–1850. The Journal of Economic History, 82(4), 1071–1107
  • 1850-1950: Hoffmann, Grumbach and Hesse, op. cit., pp. 454-5.

Malawi

  • 1904-1950: Broadberry, S., & Gardner, L. (2022). Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1885–2008: Evidence from eight countries. Explorations in Economic History, 83, 101424.

No separate list is published for Luxembourg; the database as a whole is cited above.