Data sources
Every number on this site comes from a named data source or is calculated from one. This page lists them with their licences and credits. It is generated from the same records the build uses, so it always matches what the site ships.
Datasets
| Source | Used for | Licence |
|---|---|---|
| Natural Earth Natural Earth, v5.1.2 | Country shapes, borders and label points for the globe and the maps. | Public domain |
| International Migrant Stock 2024 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2024 | How many people live outside the country where they were born, by country of destination and of origin, from 1990 to 2024. | CC BY 3.0 IGO |
| World Population Prospects 2024 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2024 | Population by age and sex, births, deaths, life expectancy and migration for every country and the world, 1950 to 2100. Estimates to 2023, projections from 2024. | CC BY 3.0 IGO |
| World Population Prospects 2024: life tables United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2024 | Period life tables for every country and area, 1950 to 2100: life expectancy and survivors at every age, by sex. | CC BY 3.0 IGO |
| World Population Prospects 2024: projection variants and intervals United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2024 | Alternative UN projections of total population to 2100: deterministic variants and the probabilistic prediction intervals. | CC BY 3.0 IGO |
| World Urbanization Prospects 2025 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2025 | The share of each country’s population living in cities, in towns and semi-dense areas, and in rural areas, from 1950 to 2050. | CC BY 3.0 IGO |
| World Urbanization Prospects 2025: cities United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2025 | The population of every city of 50,000 people or more, defined the same way in every country, from 1975 to 2050. | CC BY 3.0 IGO |
| Human Development Report, composite indices time series United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report Office, 2025 | The Human Development Index by country, a summary of health, education and income, for comparisons over time. | CC BY 3.0 IGO |
| State population estimates by single year of age and sex (Vintage 2025, Vintage 2020) US Census Bureau, Population Division, 2026-06-25 | The population of each US state and the District of Columbia by single year of age and sex on 1 July, 2010 to 2025, for the US states pages and the state choice in Your life and the age tools. | Public domain (US Government work) |
| World Development Indicators World Bank, 2026-10-08 | Internet use, access to electricity and clean cooking fuels, basic drinking water and sanitation, and adult literacy by country and for the world, for Humanity as 100 people and the world since your birth. | CC BY 4.0 |
Software and fonts
| Source | Used for | Licence |
|---|---|---|
| three.js | 3D explorers | MIT |
| Inter | Typeface | SIL OFL 1.1 |
| Unicode CLDR | Country names | Unicode License v3 |
Photographs
The header photographs, with their sources. City lights show where there is light at night, not how many people live there, so no number on the site is read from them.
Flags
The flags beside country names come from the open-source collection flag-icons, Panayiotis Lipiridis, MIT.