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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 AfricaMalta
279,04081,43946,257387
282,16281,47446,958390
284,96981,53447,820393
287,62581,59548,480396
290,10881,56648,951398
292,80581,47349,478401
295,51781,35450,054404
298,38081,19050,667405
301,23181,00951,339406
304,09480,78152,077409
306,77280,50052,862412
309,32780,30153,682414
311,58380,29254,518416
313,87880,44355,356420
316,06080,66356,215426
318,38681,00057,075435
320,73981,70457,947445
323,07282,36658,830455
325,12282,67459,715468
326,83882,92360,595485
328,33083,11061,469504
331,51283,17862,355516
332,03283,21362,900518
333,28883,81163,382530

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 Malta; the database as a whole is cited above.