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 StatesGermanySerbiaSingapore
279,04081,4397,6113,959
282,16281,4747,5874,028
284,96981,5347,5744,138
287,62581,5957,5704,176
290,10881,5667,5514,115
292,80581,4737,5334,167
295,51781,3547,5104,266
298,38081,1907,4814,401
301,23181,0097,4514,589
304,09480,7817,4194,839
306,77280,5007,3894,988
309,32780,3017,3605,077
311,58380,2927,3045,184
313,87880,4437,2695,312
316,06080,6637,2345,399
318,38681,0007,1995,470
320,73981,7047,1625,535
323,07282,3667,1245,607
325,12282,6747,0875,612
326,83882,9237,0485,639
328,33083,1107,0105,704
331,51283,1786,9645,686
332,03283,2136,8985,716
333,28883,8116,8335,750

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.

Serbia

  • 1952-2008: Milanovic (2011). Estimates provided to the Maddison-Project

Singapore

  • 1900–1959: Sugimoto, I. (2011), Economic growth of Singapore in the twentieth century: historical GDP estimates and empirical investigations, Economic Growth Centre Research Monograph ser., 2, http://www.worldscibooks.com/economics/7858.html (accessed on 30 Jan. 2013).