The global population reached a record 8.09 billion by the end of 2024, marking an increase of over 71 million people during the year, according to estimates from the US Census Bureau. The 0.9% growth rate is a slight dip compared to 2023, when the world added 75 million people.
In January 2025, global demographic trends are expected to continue with an average of 4.2 births and 2.0 deaths every second, leading to a steady net increase in population.
India tops
India maintained its position as the world’s most populous nation in 2024, with an estimated 1.41 billion people (1,409,128,296). It narrowly surpassed China, which had 1.41 billion (1,407,929,929) as of July. The United States ranked third with a projected population of 341.1 million on New year’s day 2025, up by 2.6 million people (0.78%) over the year.
World population clock
At the end of each year, the Census Bureau uses a revised series of population estimates to update the short-term projections for the population clock. Once the updated monthly projections are completed, daily population clock values are derived by interpolation. Within each calendar month, the daily numerical population change is assumed to be constant, subject to negligible differences caused by rounding, the statement read.
US trends
In January 2025, the US population is projected to grow by one person every 21.2 seconds, combining one birth every 9 seconds, one death every 9.4 seconds, and an international migrant added every 23.2 seconds.
