Countries with the Largest Population
This is a listing of the 23 most populous countries in the world (those having a population over fifty million). Data are estimates from mid-2005.
   1. China - 1,306,313,812
   2. India - 1,080,264,388
   3. United States - 295,734,134
   4. Indonesia - 241,973,879
   5. Brazil - 186,112,794
   6. Pakistan - 162,419,946
   7. Bangladesh - 144,319,628
   8. Russia - 143,420,309
   9. Nigeria - 128,765,768
  10. Japan - 127,417,244
  11. Mexico - 106,202,903
  12. Philippines - 87,857,473
  13. Vietnam - 83,535,576
  14. Germany - 82,431,390
  15. Egypt - 77,505,756
  16. Ethiopia - 73,053,286
  17. Turkey - 69,660,559
  18. Iran - 68,017,860
  19. Thailand - 64,185,502
  20. Democratic Republic of the Congo - 60,764,490
  21. France - 60,656,178
  22. United Kingdom - 60,441,457
  23. Italy - 58,103,033
http://geography.about.com/cs/worldpopulation/a/mostpopulous.htm
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According to the Population Reference Bureau, these will be the ten largest countries based on population in 2050...
1. India - 1,628,000,000 (1.628 billion)
2. China - 1,437,000,000 (1.437 billion)
3. United States - 420,000,000 (420 million)
4. Nigeria - 299,000,000
5. Pakistan - 295,000,000
6. Indonesia - 285,000,000
7. Brazil - 260,000,000
8. Bangladesh - 231,000,000
9. Democratic Republic of Congo - 183,000,000
10. Ethiopia - 145,000,000
http://geography.about.com/od/lists/a/2050pop.htm
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why? how?