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Population, long-run history: compare countries

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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 StatesGermanySouth AfricaCyprus
279,04081,43946,257818
282,16281,47446,958826
284,96981,53447,820835
287,62581,59548,480845
290,10881,56648,951855
292,80581,47349,478867
295,51781,35450,054879
298,38081,19050,667894
301,23181,00951,339913
304,09480,78152,077937
306,77280,50052,862962
309,32780,30153,682988
311,58380,29254,5181,013
313,87880,44355,3561,029
316,06080,66356,2151,026
318,38681,00057,0751,015
320,73981,70457,9471,009
323,07282,36658,8301,014
325,12282,67459,7151,023
326,83882,92360,5951,036
328,33083,11061,4691,050
331,51283,17862,3551,062
332,03283,21362,9001,072
333,28883,81163,3821,087

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.

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

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