Photo: Ronald Valdes Balsells, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The world in 2000

On 1 January 2000, 6.13 billion people were alive. During the year, 136 million children were born and 52.2 million people died.

In 2026 the world has 2.13 billion more people, 1.3 times as many.

The median age is 25.1. 31% of the people are under 15 and 6.8% are 65 or older.

Life expectancy at birth is 66.4 years, and women have 2.8 children on average at that year’s rates.

Countries with more than 100 million people: 10.

Population, 1 January 2000
6,129,943,964
Median age
25.1
Births in 2000
135,758,482
Deaths in 2000
52,240,368
Life expectancy at birth
66.4
Children per woman
2.75
Under 15
30.6%
65 and over
6.8%
Population pyramid, World, 1 January 2000MaleFemale0102030405060708090100+020M20M40M40M60M60M80M80M
Population pyramid, World, 1 January 2000

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The most populous countries

CountryPopulationUnder 1565 and over
China1,264,726,91524.9%6.9%
India1,048,002,57035.7%4.4%
United States280,093,56521.2%12.2%
Indonesia214,558,77131.0%5.0%
Brazil172,855,17230.2%5.1%
Pakistan152,612,09343.5%3.5%
Russia146,951,62818.4%12.3%
Bangladesh133,366,75437.6%3.4%
Japan126,914,85414.5%17.1%
Nigeria124,673,62943.7%3.0%

Development and urbanisation

IndicatorLatest valueYear
Living in cities39.4%2000
People using the internetnone observed–
Access to electricity78.2%2000
Adult literacy (ages 15 and over)81.1%2000
80.6%2000
54.8%2000
47.8%2000
Human Development Index0.6512000

Values observed in 2000, 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).