List of continents by population

Asia is the most populous continent in the world, with 4.84 billion people accounting for nearly 58.74% of the world population as of 2025. Africa is the second-largest continent by population, with around 1.55 billion people, or 18.83% of the world's population. Only these two continents have crossed the one billion milestone. Asia and Africa together share over 77% of the global population. Europe has a population of around 744 million (9.04%), North America is home to around 617 million (7.50%), and South America, the second least populated continent, has about 438 million inhabitants (5.32%). Oceania (47 million) is the smallest continent on the basis of population if Antarctica is excluded, as there are no population estimates for Antarctica by the UN (World Population Prospects 2024).

The top three major subregions belong to the continent of Asia: Southern Asia (2.08 billion), Eastern Asia (1.65 billion), and Southeastern Asia (700 million). 45.40% of the world's population lives in Southern Asia (25.33%) and Eastern Asia (20.07%). Southern Asia includes India, the most populous country, and Eastern Asia includes China, the 2nd most populous country. Micronesia is the smallest subregion, followed by Polynesia, having less than 1 million people.

Africa has the highest population growth rate, as all three subregions growing over 2% are in Africa. Middle Africa has the highest rate at close to 3%, followed by Eastern Africa and Western Africa, growing over 2%. The population growth rate of the continent of Africa (2.26%) is almost double the growth rate of the second-fastest-growing continent, Oceania (1.11%). Except for Africa and Oceania, the remaining four continents have growth rates below 1%. The populations of Asia (0.58%), South America (0.56%), and North America (0.66%) are increasing at almost similar rates. Nine subregions have growth rates above 1%. Europe is the only continent with a negative growth rate of -0.10%. Southern Europe, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Eastern Asia have negative growth rates.

With 35 million more people in 2025, Africa is the top contributor of the total world population increment, closely followed by Asia (28 million).

The population of Europe reached its peak level in 2020; South America is the next continent that is projected to peak in 2049. Asia and North America are projected to peak in 2054 and 2083, respectively. The population of Africa and Oceania will not peak until 2100.