The world’s population in 1997

5.76B people. One hexagon represents 100,000 people.

Open the 1997 map →

Drawn as they stood de facto, the map this year includes Germany, Timor (whole island), Serbia and Montenegro.

Largest populations in 1997

RegionPopulation
1Bihar100.5M
2Mexico92.3M
3Maharashtra89.7M
4Henan89.5M
5Shandong88.3M
6Sichuan82.1M
7Germany, DE82.1M
8Guangdong77.8M
9West Bengal75.3M
10Madhya Pradesh75.2M

The largest relative change from 1996: Sichuan (−29.6M people).