The world’s population in 1972

3.77B people. One hexagon represents 100,000 people.

Open the 1972 map →

Drawn as they stood de facto, the map this year includes Czechoslovakia, Germany, North Vietnam, South Vietnam, Yugoslavia.

Largest populations in 1972

RegionPopulation
1Brazil99.8M
2Uttar Pradesh90.6M
3Japan86.7M
4Sichuan82.0M
5Java77.6M
6Bangladesh71.5M
7Pakistan65.3M
8Shandong63.2M
9Henan59.9M
10Federal Republic of Germany, DE58.3M

The largest relative change from 1971: Kuwait (+48k people).