Photo: Ronald Valdes Balsells, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The world in 2040 (projected)

For 1 January 2040, the UN projects 9.15 billion people alive, and 136 million births and 80 million deaths during the year.

That is 877 million more people than in 2026.

The median age is 34.0. 21% of the people are under 15 and 14% are 65 or older.

Life expectancy at birth is 75.8 years, and women have 2.1 children on average at that year’s rates.

Countries with more than 100 million people: 17.

Figures for 2040 are UN projections (medium variant). Estimates end in 2023.

Population, 1 January 2040
9,149,330,917
Median age
34.0
Births in 2040
135,668,984
Deaths in 2040
79,950,500
Life expectancy at birth
75.8
Children per woman
2.13
Under 15
21.2%
65 and over
14.2%
Population pyramid, World, 1 January 2040MaleFemale0102030405060708090100+020M20M40M40M60M60M80M80M
Population pyramid, World, 1 January 2040 Projection

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The most populous countries

CountryPopulationUnder 1565 and over
India1,618,706,67920.0%11.0%
China1,346,163,6309.4%26.4%
United States369,567,82515.9%22.0%
Pakistan322,538,17631.6%5.3%
Indonesia311,157,32120.6%12.0%
Nigeria310,248,00934.7%3.6%
Brazil219,187,65915.8%17.5%
Bangladesh201,908,61423.0%9.7%
Ethiopia186,640,86433.8%4.4%
Democratic Republic of the Congo170,434,68841.5%3.3%

Development and urbanisation

IndicatorLatest valueYear
Living in cities47.0%2040, projected
People using the internetnone observed–
Access to electricitynone observed–
Adult literacy (ages 15 and over)none observed–
none observed–
none observed–
none observed–
Human Development Indexnone observed–

Values observed in 2040, 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).