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 StatesGermanyVenezuelaGambia
279,04081,43923,1881,320
282,16281,47423,6011,357
284,96981,53424,0111,393
287,62581,59524,4251,431
290,10881,56624,8411,469
292,80581,47325,2551,508
295,51781,35425,6671,548
298,38081,19026,0791,589
301,23181,00926,5891,630
304,09480,78127,0981,671
306,77280,50027,5101,713
309,32780,30127,9201,755
311,58380,29228,3271,798
313,87880,44328,7221,840
316,06080,66329,1111,883
318,38681,00029,4181,926
320,73981,70429,6931,968
323,07282,36629,9612,010
325,12282,67429,8562,051
326,83882,92328,8582,093
328,33083,11027,9212,147
331,51283,17827,8712,203
332,03283,21328,3162,260
333,28883,81128,4182,316

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.

Venezuela

  • 1830–2012: De Corso, G. (2013). El crecimiento economico de Venuzuela, Desde la Oligarquia Conservadora Hasta La Revolucion Bolivariana: 1830-2012. Uno Vision cuantitativa *: Venezuelan Economic Growth From The Conservative Oligarchy To The Bolivarian Revolution (1830-2012), Revista De Historia Económica / Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, 31(3), 321-357. doi:10.1017/S0212610913000190

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