Photo: Ronald Valdes Balsells, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The world in 1994

On 1 January 1994, 5.63 billion people were alive. During the year, 135 million children were born and 51.9 million people died.

In 2026 the world has 2.63 billion more people, 1.5 times as many.

The median age is 23.7. 32% of the people are under 15 and 6.3% are 65 or older.

Life expectancy at birth is 64.3 years, and women have 2.9 children on average at that year’s rates.

Countries with more than 100 million people: 10.

Population, 1 January 1994
5,633,945,045
Median age
23.7
Births in 1994
135,142,908
Deaths in 1994
51,930,609
Life expectancy at birth
64.3
Children per woman
2.93
Under 15
32.4%
65 and over
6.3%
Population pyramid, World, 1 January 1994MaleFemale0102030405060708090100+020M20M40M40M60M60M80M80M
Population pyramid, World, 1 January 1994

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The most populous countries

CountryPopulationUnder 1565 and over
China1,203,416,57628.0%5.8%
India931,695,92637.8%4.1%
United States264,084,66021.9%12.4%
Indonesia194,947,05834.0%4.3%
Brazil158,033,04133.7%4.5%
Russia148,019,03221.8%11.5%
Pakistan128,908,28544.5%3.4%
Japan125,057,22516.2%13.9%
Bangladesh119,209,12541.0%3.4%
Nigeria106,504,04444.7%3.1%

Development and urbanisation

IndicatorLatest valueYear
Living in cities36.5%1994
People using the internetnone observed–
Access to electricitynone observed–
Adult literacy (ages 15 and over)76.4%1994
none observed–
none observed–
none observed–
Human Development Index0.6201994

Values observed in 1994, or in the closest earlier year within five years, shown with that year. The share in cities is a UN estimate to 2025 and a projection after. Sources: World Bank WDI, UNDP HDR, UN WUP 2025.

Sources: World Population Prospects 2024, UN DESA Population Division (CC BY 3.0 IGO).