India to Surpass China as Most Populous Country by 2027: UN Report

They are followed by the United States of America, with 329 million in 2019, and Indonesia, with 271 million, the 2019 report said.

The report said that after this re-ordering between 2019 and 2050, the ranking of the five largest countries is projected to be preserved through the end of the century, when India could remain the world's most populous country with nearly 1.5 billion inhabitants, followed by China with just under 1.1 billion, Nigeria with 733 million, the US with 434 million, and Pakistan with 403 million inhabitants.

It further said that in 2019, around 40 per cent of the world's population lives in intermediate-fertility countries, where women have on average between 2.1 and four births over a lifetime.