List of countries by population in 1939

This is a list of countries by population in 1939, providing an approximate overview of the world population before World War II. Estimate numbers are from the beginning of the year, and exact population figures are for countries that were having a census in the year 1939 (which were on various dates in that year).

Country/territory	Population c. 1939	Percentage of world's population
World[1]	2,300,000,000	–
British Empire (including colonies)[2][3] subdivisions  India – 377,800,000 British Africa – 73,903,225 constituents Nigeria – 19,753,000 South Africa — 10,160,000 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan – 6,342,500 Tanganyika – 5,372,812 Kenya – 4,500,000 Uganda – 3,747,200 Gold Coast – 3,700,300 Sierra Leone – 1,974,700 Nyasaland – 1,680,000 Southern Rhodesia – 1,400,000 Northern Rhodesia – 1,390,000 British Cameroons – 1,024,425 Basutoland – 622,000 Mauritius – 422,000 British Somaliland – 350,000 Bechuanaland Protectorate – 275,000 Gambia – 205,000 Swaziland – 158,000 Zanzibar – 150,088 Seychelles – 31,500 United Kingdom – 47,760,000 Burma – 16,119,000  Canada – 10,952,100  Australia – 6,968,000 Malaya – 5,386,300 constituents Federated Malay States — 2,145,000   Unfederated Malay States — 1,871,000 Straits Settlements — 1,370,300 British West Indies – 3,702,600 constituents Jamaica – 1,178,600 British Honduras – 55,000 Trinidad and Tobago – 476,000 British Guiana – 339,000 Windward Islands – 216,100 constituents Grenada – 89,000 Saint Lucia – 69,100 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – 58,000 Barbados – 177,000 Leeward Islands – 142,400 constituents Dominica – 50,600 Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla – 37,600 Antigua and Barbuda – 34,100 Montserrat – 13,700 British Virgin Islands – 6,400 The Bahamas – 67,000 Bermuda – 30,500  New Zealand – 1,668,800 Mandatory Palestine - 1,466,500 Papua and New Guinea – 1,292,000 Hong Kong — 1,282,000 Aden[note 1] – 994,000 Jordan — 991,000   Bhutan – 470,000 Sarawak — 460,000 British Western Pacific Territories – 425,820 constituents Fiji — 210,500 Solomon Islands — 95,000 New Hebrides — 43,000  Tonga — 35,000 Gilbert and Ellice Islands — 33,400 Niue — 4,000 Nauru – 3,400 Tokelau — 1,300 Pitcairn Islands – 220 Cyprus — 393,000  Muscat and Oman — 386,000 Newfoundland – 314,900 North Borneo — 300,000 Malta – 269,000   Trucial States — 110,000 Maldives — 87,000 Kuwait — 50,000 Brunei – 38,000 Gibraltar[4] – 19,000 Saint Helena – 4,700 Falkland Islands – 2,400	550,398,825	24.0%
Japan (including colonies)[2][3] subdivisions Occupied Mainland China – 200,000,000 including Reformed Government of the Republic of China Provisional Government of the Republic of China  Mengjiang  Japan – 71,900,000  Manchukuo – 50,000,000 Korea – 24,326,000 Formosa – 6,586,000 South Pacific Mandate – 127,000	304,119,000	13.2%
China[3]	267,568,000	11.6%
Soviet Union[5] subdivisions  Russian SFSR - 108,377,000  Ukrainian SSR - 32,425,000  Uzbek SSR - 6,271,269  Kazakh SSR - 6,081,000  Byelorussian SSR - 5,568,994  Georgian SSR - 3,540,023  Azerbaijan SSR - 3,205,000  Kirghiz SSR - 1,458,213  Tajik SSR - 1,458,091  Armenian SSR - 1,282,338  Turkmen SSR - 1,251,883	168,500,000	7.3%
United States (including territories)[3] subdivisions  United States – 131,028,000  Philippines – 16,000,000 Guam – 22,800	147,050,800	6.4%
France (including colonies)[2][3][6] subdivisions  France – 42,000,000 French Indochina – 24,664,000 French North Africa[7][note 2] – 16,920,000 constituents French Algeria – 7,517,000 French Morocco – 6,622,200 French Tunisia – 2,781,000 French Equatorial Africa – 4,421,000 constituents French Congo – 2,400,000 French Chad – 2,021,000 French West Africa – 13,393,200 constituents French Sudan – 3,635,100 French Upper Volta – 3,308,000 French Guinea – 2,065,500 Colony of Niger – 1,809,600 French Dahomey – 1,532,000 French Togoland – 1,043,000 Syria – 2,516,000 French Cameroons – 2,381,272 Lebanon – 1,168,000 French Comoros – 137,000 French Polynesia – 51,200 French Guiana – 24,000	107,624,472	4.7%
Germany (including occupied territories)[2][3][8] subdivisions  Germany – 69,314,000 Austria – 6,658,000 Sudetenland – 3,261,636 Memel – 141,645 Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia – 7,380,000	86,755,281	3.8%
Dutch Empire (including colonies)[3] subdivisions Dutch East Indies – 69,435,000  Netherlands – 8,729,000 Dutch Guyana - 173,100 Aruba - 29,200 Curaçao and Dependencies - ? Sint Maarten - ?	78,366,300	3.4%
Italy (including colonies)[2][3][9] subdivisions  Italy – 43,400,000 Italian East Africa – 12,100,000 Italian Libya – 893,774 Italian Islands of the Aegean[10] – 132,489 Italian concession of Tientsin[11] – 6,261	56,532,624	2.5%
Brazil[3]	40,289,000	1.8%
Poland[3]	34,849,000	1.5%
Spain (including colonies)[3] subdivisions  Spain – 25,637,000 Spanish Morocco[7][3][note 3] – 735,800  Spanish Sahara[12]– 450,000	26,822,800	1.2%
Belgium (including colonies)[3] subdivisions  Belgian Congo – 10,304,100  Belgium – 8,387,000 Ruanda-Urundi – 3,800,000	22,491,000	1.0%
Romania[3]	19,933,800	0.9%
Mexico[3]	19,320,000	0.8%
Portugal (including colonies)[3] subdivisions  Portugal – 7,627,000 Mozambique - 5,086,500 Angola - 3,740,800 Portuguese India - 624,100 constituents Goa - 583,700 Dadra and Nagar Haveli - 40,400 Portuguese Timor - 480,000 Portuguese Guinea - 420,000 Macau - 374,700 Cape Verde - 181,300 São Tomé and Príncipe - 61,000	18,595,400	0.8%
Turkey[3]	17,370,000	0.8%
Egypt[3]	16,492,000	0.7%
Yugoslavia[3]	15,490,000	0.7%
Siam[3]	15,023,000	0.7%
Iran[3]	14,340,000	0.6%
Argentina[3]	13,948,000	0.6%
Canada[13]	11,267,000	0.5%
Hungary[3]	9,129,000	0.4%
Colombia[3]	8,896,000	0.4%
Afghanistan[3]	7,400,000	0.3%
Greece[3]	7,222,000	0.3%
Peru[3]	6,572,000	0.3%
Bulgaria[3]	6,458,000	0.3%
Sweden[3]	6,341,000	0.3%
Nepal[3]	6,087,000	0.3%
Chile[3]	4,914,000	0.2%
Cuba[3]	4,235,000	0.18%
Switzerland[3]	4,210,000	0.18%
Denmark (including colonies)[3][14][15] subdivisions  Denmark – 3,795,000 Faroe Islands – 26,900 Greenland – 18,400	3,840,300	0.17%
Finland[3]	3,700,000	0.16%
Iraq[3]	3,698,000	0.16%
Venezuela[3]	3,628,000	0.16%
Ireland[3]	2,960,000	0.13%
Norway[3]	2,945,000	0.13%
Yemen[3][note 4]	2,775,000	0.12%
Haiti[3]	2,707,000	0.12%
Saudi Arabia[3]	2,670,000	0.12%
Bolivia[3]	2,659,000	0.12%
Lithuania[3]	2,575,000	0.11%
Ecuador[3]	2,412,000	0.10%
Guatemala[3]	2,150,000	0.093%
Latvia[3]	1,994,500	0.087%
Uruguay[3]	1,953,000	0.085%
Dominican Republic[3]	1,634,000	0.071%
El Salvador[3]	1,459,600	0.063%
Estonia[3]	1,134,000	0.049%
Honduras[3]	1,096,950	0.048%
Albania[3]	1,073,000	0.047%
Tibet[3]	1,000,000	0.043%
Paraguay[3]	931,800	0.041%
Mongolia[3]	819,000	0.036%
Nicaragua[3]	806,000	0.035%
Liberia[3]	780,000	0.034%
Costa Rica[3]	623,400	0.027%
Panama[3]	605,000	0.026%
Danzig[16][note 5]	408,000	0.018%
Luxembourg[3]	295,000	0.013%
Iceland[3]	118,900	0.052%
Monaco[3]	24,000	0.0010%
San Marino[3]	14,500	0.00063%
Liechtenstein[3]	13,000	0.00057%
Andorra[3]	6,000	0.00026%
Vatican City[3]	1,000	0.000046%

Historical Demographics
Altar Domitius Ahenobarbus Louvre
Articles
Demographic history
Historical demography
World population estimates
List of countries by population
1907	1939	1989

Map of flags of the world in 1935

Population distribution by country in 1939