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

Add a country

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 South AfricaFrance
46,25760,396
46,95860,811
47,82061,255
48,48061,703
48,95162,141
49,47862,600
50,05463,073
50,66763,513
51,33963,906
52,07764,264
52,86264,594
53,68264,913
54,51865,231
55,35665,552
56,21565,891
57,07566,212
57,94766,480
58,83066,730
59,71567,015
60,59567,347
61,46967,660
62,35567,901
62,90068,114
63,38268,387

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

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

France

  • 1: Scheidel, W. and Friesen, S. J., ‘The size of the economy and the distribution of income in the Roman Empire’, Journal of Roman Studies, 99 (2009), pp. 61–91
  • 1276–1800: Ridolfi, L., & Nuvolari, A. (2021). L’histoire immobile? A reappraisal of French economic growth using the demand-side approach, 1280–1850. European Review of Economic History, 25(3), 405–428
  • 1850-1913: Toutain, Le Produit interieur de la France de 1789 a 1982, Presses Universitaires de Grenoble, 1987
  • 1920-1950: Toutain, Le Produit interieur de la France de 1789 a 1982, Presses Universitaires de Grenoble, 1987