Population: China vs India 2024 (Latest Data & Historical Trends)
Historical population comparison between China and India (1950-2025). Shows India overtaking China in 2023 to become the world's most populous nation. Data covers 75 years of demographic transition.
Quick Answer
India overtook China as the world's most populous nation in 2023. India reached 1.455 billion people in 2025, versus China's 1.407 billion—a 48 million gap. This reversed 70 years of Chinese population leadership. China's population peaked at 1.412 billion in 2021 and has declined since. Data from World Bank covers 1950-2025.
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Population: China vs India
Data Table
65 data points| Year | China | India |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 667.1 | 436.0 |
| 1961 | 660.3 | 446.6 |
| 1962 | 665.8 | 457.3 |
| 1963 | 682.3 | 468.1 |
| 1964 | 698.4 | 479.2 |
| 1965 | 715.2 | 490.1 |
| 1966 | 735.4 | 500.7 |
| 1967 | 754.5 | 511.6 |
| 1968 | 774.5 | 522.7 |
| 1969 | 796.0 | 533.9 |
| 1970 | 818.3 | 545.9 |
| 1971 | 841.1 | 558.1 |
| 1972 | 862.0 | 570.5 |
| 1973 | 881.9 | 583.5 |
| 1974 | 900.4 | 597.0 |
| 1975 | 916.4 | 611.3 |
| 1976 | 930.7 | 625.9 |
| 1977 | 943.5 | 640.8 |
| 1978 | 956.2 | 655.7 |
| 1979 | 969.0 | 671.2 |
| 1980 | 981.2 | 687.4 |
| 1981 | 993.9 | 703.7 |
| 1982 | 1008.6 | 720.3 |
| 1983 | 1023.3 | 737.4 |
| 1984 | 1036.8 | 754.9 |
| 1985 | 1051.0 | 772.6 |
| 1986 | 1066.8 | 790.7 |
| 1987 | 1084.0 | 808.9 |
| 1988 | 1101.6 | 827.3 |
| 1989 | 1118.7 | 846.0 |
| 1990 | 1135.2 | 865.0 |
| 1991 | 1150.8 | 883.9 |
| 1992 | 1165.0 | 903.0 |
| 1993 | 1178.4 | 922.1 |
| 1994 | 1191.8 | 941.2 |
| 1995 | 1204.9 | 960.3 |
| 1996 | 1217.5 | 979.7 |
| 1997 | 1230.1 | 999.1 |
| 1998 | 1241.9 | 1018.7 |
| 1999 | 1252.7 | 1038.2 |
| 2000 | 1262.6 | 1057.9 |
| 2001 | 1271.8 | 1077.9 |
| 2002 | 1280.4 | 1097.6 |
| 2003 | 1288.4 | 1116.8 |
| 2004 | 1296.1 | 1136.0 |
| 2005 | 1303.7 | 1154.7 |
| 2006 | 1311.0 | 1172.9 |
| 2007 | 1317.9 | 1190.7 |
| 2008 | 1324.7 | 1207.9 |
| 2009 | 1331.3 | 1225.5 |
| 2010 | 1337.7 | 1243.5 |
| 2011 | 1345.0 | 1261.2 |
| 2012 | 1354.2 | 1278.7 |
| 2013 | 1363.2 | 1295.8 |
| 2014 | 1371.9 | 1312.3 |
| 2015 | 1379.9 | 1328.0 |
| 2016 | 1387.8 | 1343.9 |
| 2017 | 1396.2 | 1359.7 |
| 2018 | 1402.8 | 1374.7 |
| 2019 | 1407.7 | 1389.0 |
| 2020 | 1411.1 | 1402.6 |
| 2021 | 1412.4 | 1414.2 |
| 2022 | 1412.2 | 1425.4 |
| 2023 | 1410.7 | 1438.1 |
| 2024 | 1409.0 | 1450.9 |
About This Dataset
Historical population comparison between China and India (1950-2025). Shows India overtaking China in 2023 to become the world's most populous nation. Data covers 75 years of demographic transition.
The latest row (2024) reports China: 1,409 Million Persons and india: 1,450.9 Million Persons. The dataset spans 65 data points from 1960 to 2024, updated yearly.
API
curl https://chinadata.live/api/v2/data/china-population-vs-india 📚 How to Cite This Data
Citation Format:
China Data Portal (2026). Population: China vs India. Retrieved from https://chinadata.live/data/china-population-vs-india/
Primary Source:
World Bank, UN Population Division, National Bureau of Statistics
Last Updated:
2026-07-10T13:44:30.702Z
API Access:
GET https://chinadata.live/api/v2/data/china-population-vs-india Frequently Asked Questions
When did India surpass China in population?
India surpassed China to become the world's most populous nation in 2023, according to UN Population Division estimates. India's population reached approximately 1.429 billion while China's peaked around 1.426 billion. China's population has been declining since 2022 — the first decline in over 60 years — while India's continues to grow.
What is China's population in 2025?
China's population is approximately 1.408–1.416 billion in 2025, and declining. China's National Bureau of Statistics reported the first year-over-year population drop in 2022. The decline is driven by a falling birth rate (around 8 million births/year) that no longer offsets deaths, combined with the demographic legacy of the One-Child Policy.
What is India's population in 2025?
India's population is approximately 1.44–1.46 billion in 2025 and continues growing, though the growth rate is slowing. India is projected to remain the world's most populous country through at least 2100, with its population peaking somewhere around 1.6–1.7 billion in the 2060s before potentially declining.
Why is China's population declining while India's is still growing?
China's population is declining because its total fertility rate (TFR) has fallen to approximately 1.0–1.1, far below the 2.1 replacement rate. This is the result of decades of the One-Child Policy, urbanization, high child-rearing costs, and changing social values. India's TFR is approximately 2.0, near replacement level, so its population is still growing but at a slowing pace.
What are the long-term implications of India having a larger population than China?
A larger and younger Indian population provides India with a demographic dividend — a larger labor force and consumer base — while China faces an aging population challenge with increasing dependency ratios. Economists project India's GDP could overtake China's in absolute size sometime in the 2070s–2090s, depending on productivity growth, though China's GDP per capita will likely remain higher for much longer.