Population Trends
Timely and accurate information about changes in the size and characteristics of a country’s population is needed by national governments, the United Nations, international organizations and civil society to formulate, implement and evaluate policies and programmes in almost all spheres of life. Such information is critical as well as for monitoring progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The Population Division produces estimates and projections of population size by age and sex, as well as indicators that describe various characteristics of a population, including levels and trends in fertility, mortality, migration, urbanization and so forth, at the global, regional and national levels. The Division produces the dataset every other year.
Data and facts
- World Population Prospects 2022: Data Sources
- World Population Prospects 2019. Volume I: Comprehensive Tables
- World Population Prospects 2019. Volume II: Demographic Profiles
- World Population Prospects 2019 Wall Chart
- World Population Prospects 2019 Data Booklet
- How certain are the United Nations global population projections? Population Facts No. 2019/6
- World Population Prospects 2017. Volume I: Comprehensive Tables
- World Population Prospects 2017. Volume II: Demographic Profiles
- World Population Prospects 2017 Data Booklet
- The impact of population momentum on future population growth. Population Facts No. 2017/4
- The end of high fertility is near. Population Facts No. 2017/3
- World Population Prospects 2015. Volume I: Comprehensive Tables
- World Population Prospects 2015. Volume II: Demographic Profiles
- Demographic Components of Future Population Growth: 2015 Revision
Publications
- World Population Prospects 2024: Summary of Results, 11 July 2024
- Population Prospects of Countries in Special Situations: Tracking demographic change among the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States
- Policy brief: India overtakes China as the world’s most populous country 2023
- Method protocol for the evaluation of census population data by age and sex. Technical paper No. Ãå±±½ûµØDESA/POP/2022/TP/No.5
- World Population Prospects 2022: Summary of Results 2022
- Global Population Growth and Sustainable Development 2021
- A sensitivity analysis of the projected median fertility trajectories in the World Population Prospects, Technical Paper No. 2021/1
- Census counts, undercounts and population estimates. Technical Paper No. 2020/02
- Data and methods for the production of national population estimates. Technical Paper No. 2020/01
- World Population Prospects 2019
- World Population Prospects 2019: Methodology of the United Nations Population Estimates and Projections
- World Population Prospects 2019 Highlights
- World Population Prospects 2017: Methodology of the United Nations Population Estimates and Projections
- World Population Prospects 2017: Key Findings and Advance Tables
- A sensitivity analysis of the Bayesian framework for projecting life expectancy at birth. Technical Paper No. 2017/7
- A comparison of the modified Lee-Carter and pattern of mortality decline methods. Technical Paper No. 2017/6
- World Population Prospects 2015: Methodology of the United Nations Population Estimates and Projections
- World Population Prospects 2015: Key Findings and Advance Tables