Population by Continent Over Time

Throughout written history, Asia has been by far the most populous continent. However, explosive growth in Africa may change that by the end of the 21st century.
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4
Loading Chart
+19
Level ∞
Jul 6, 2018
Note: This is a logarithmic scale.
+6
Level 46
Jul 9, 2018
Could you maybe make one that is not logarithmic that maybe could end at the beginning of the 1900s, before the most extreme population growth? It'd be interesting to see how it would look without distortion
+19
Level 78
Jul 23, 2018
Can you give a little love to Oceania :(
+2
Level 56
Feb 28, 2020
Or use ASIA PACIFIC!
+6
Level 39
Jul 29, 2021
Antarctica: AM I JOKE TO YOU
+1
Level 42
Oct 30, 2021
Antarctica, Oceania, and S E A L A N D: ARE WE JOKES TO YOU?

(Sealand is a micro-nation-principality that doesn't have world recognition, and I consider it a country, and in 2002-3, the population of Sealand was at twenty-seven people).

In all seriousness, Even though Australia (Or Oceania) wasn't discovered until like, early-mid 1500's-late 1700's, you should have put it on there, and even though Antarctica was discovered in the late 1800's- EARLY EARLY 1900's, you should have put it in there.

+1
Level 64
Jul 23, 2018
I didn't know that 20 years ago population of Americas was bigger than Africa and now Africa has more than 200 million people than the first.
+11
Level 71
Nov 13, 2019
The scariest thing about this chart is the huge drop in population in the Americas between 1500 and 1600. Nothing communicates the brutality of colonization better than population loss.
+5
Level 66
Sep 7, 2020
Probably the main reason is that thousands Native Americans died of diseases
+2
Level ∞
Jun 28, 2021
The Americas were barely colonized during that time period. The reason for the population loss is disease. Imagine a population with no immunity being exposed to malaria, smallpox, measles, and many other diseases all at the same time.
+1
Level 71
Nov 13, 2019
I also find the population boom in the Americas between 1820 and 1913 interesting
+5
Level 84
Nov 17, 2019
Well, this coincides with the ending of the several Independence Wars through the formerly Spanish and Portuguese domains.

And while there were internal and external wars (almost every country had civil or partisan-related wars), during peacetime almost every country managed to thrive and have their population grown.

Of course, after 1913 came World War One and the Great Depression; the Mexican Revolution entered its most destructive phase; Peru and Chile saw guano and natural nitrate got devalued and replaced by chemical nitrate... Several things that made a dent (but in fact didn't halt) in population growth.

+2
Level 71
Nov 17, 2019
I'm guessing that the United States also drove a lot of the growth because of industrialization and mass immigration in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
+1
Level 40
Feb 15, 2020
antarctica should be first...
+3
Level 65
Feb 19, 2021
Yeah! It hasn't seen a fall in population throughout its whole freezing era!
+1
Level 65
Feb 19, 2021
This chart is a bit hard to read, given the inconsistent lines. It took me a while to realize that Africa had boomed much more than 200%.
+1
Level 68
Jul 21, 2022
Of course, the good thing about a log graph is that it allows the lines to be far closer than they would be otherwise, as opposed to a graph where Asia is at the very top and there is a massive gap until the European line.
+1
Level 35
Feb 26, 2021
Add Antarctica plz.

And Oceania

+1
Level 23
Mar 25, 2021
and 2000 was the year of the overlaps

Africa and te USA probably signed the Constitution of 2000

Europe said they good and what do they get? low pop.