The Census Ledger / World Bank WDI, data to 2024

The world added 2.8 billion people since 1990. 24 of 217 economies have fewer.

Global population grew by more than half in 34 years. Yet a whole belt of countries, mostly in Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Caucasus, shrank. Move the baseline year to see how the count changes.

Guess first. Out of 217 countries and territories, how many have a smaller population in 2024 than in 1990?

1. Pick a baseline

24economies are smaller in 2024 than in 1990

2. All 217 economies, sorted by change

shrankgrewbars above +150% are clipped. Tap or hover a bar.

3. Biggest losses

    4. Look closer

    Latvia

    LatviaWorldbaseline year = 100

    5. The full table

    EconomyBaseline2024Changevs peak

    Click a header to sort, a row to open it above. Populations in millions. Includes small territories, so the economy count is 217, not the number of UN member states.

    Sources

    Population, total (SP.POP.TOTL), World Bank World Development Indicators, API fetched 24 Oct 2026 (database last updated 8 Oct 2026), annual values 1990 to 2024. The World Bank compiles it from UN Population Division estimates and national statistical offices. Economy list and region tags from the World Bank country API (217 non-aggregate entries). World totals are the World Bank's own WLD series. data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL

    Caveat: recent values are estimates and get revised, especially for war-affected countries such as Ukraine and for places with large migration flows.