Country populations span eighteen orders of magnitude — from Vatican City's eight hundred residents to India's 1.4 billion. This higher-or-lower quiz draws two random countries from the full pool of 196 and asks the simplest question in demographics: which one has more people?

The data set is the United Nations World Population Prospects, the standard reference used by every government and most economists. Numbers are 2024 medium-variant estimates and update quarterly.

Matchups that catch you off guard

Ethiopia (123 million) edges past Japan (124 million) and is closing the gap fast. Vietnam now has more people than Germany. Pakistan, often missed in casual rankings, sits fifth in the world ahead of Brazil and Nigeria. Egypt has overtaken Iran. The fastest-growing populations are concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa — Niger's fertility rate of 6.6 children per woman is the highest on Earth, and DR Congo is expected to triple its population by 2100.