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most-spoken language: English 18.8%, Mandarin Chinese 13.8%, Hindi 7.5%, Spanish 6.9%, French 3.4%, Arabic 3.4%, Bengali 3.4%, Russian 3.2%, Portuguese 3.2%, Urdu 2.9% (2022 est.) most-spoken first language: Mandarin Chinese 12.3%, Spanish 6%, English 5.1%, Arabic 5.1%, Hindi 3.5%, Bengali 3.3%, Portuguese 3%, Russian 2.1%, Japanese 1.7%, Punjabi, Western 1.3%, Javanese 1.1% (2018 est.) note 1: the six UN languages -- Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, Russian, and Spanish (Castilian) -- are the mother tongue or second language of about 49.6% of the world's population (2022), and are the official languages in more than half the states in the world; some 400 languages have more than a million first-language speakers (2018) note 2: all told, there are estimated to be 7,168 living languages spoken in the world (2023); approximately 80% of these languages are spoken by fewer than 100,000 people; about 150 languages are spoken by fewer than 10 people; communities that are isolated in mountainous regions often develop multiple languages -- Papua New Guinea, for example, boasts about 840 separate languages (2018) note 3: approximately 2,300 languages are spoken in Asia; 2,140, in Africa; 1,310 in the Pacific; 1,060 in the Americas; and 290 in Europe (2020)

Christian 31.1%, Muslim 24.9%, Hindu 15.2%, Buddhist 6.6%, folk religions 5.6%, Jewish <1%, other <1%, unaffiliated 15.6% (2020 est.)

17 births/1,000 population (2024 est.)

note: this rate results in about 260 worldwide births per minute or 4.3 births every second

7.9 deaths/1,000 population (2024 est.)

note: this rate results in about 121 worldwide deaths per minute or 2 deaths every second

10.4% of GDP (2021)

2.42 children born/woman (2020 est.)

1.03% (2021 est.)

note: this rate results in about 154 net additions to the worldwide population every minute or 2.6 people every second

six of the world's seven continents are widely and permanently inhabited; Asia is the most populous continent, with about 60% of the world's population (China and India together account for over 35%); Africa comes in second with over 15%, Europe has about 10%, North America 8%, South America almost 6%, and Oceania less than 1%; the harsh conditions on Antarctica prevent any permanent habitation

197 deaths/100,000 live births (2023 est.)

ten largest urban agglomerations: Tokyo (Japan) - 37,393,000; New Delhi (India) - 30,291,000; Shanghai (China) - 27,058,000; Sao Paulo (Brazil) - 22,043,000; Mexico City (Mexico) - 21,782,000; Dhaka (Bangladesh) - 21,006,000; Cairo (Egypt) - 20,901,000; Beijing (China) - 20,463,000; Mumbai (India) - 20,411,000; Osaka (Japan) - 19,165,000 (2020)

ten largest urban agglomerations, by continent:
Africa - Cairo (Egypt) - 20,901,000; Lagos (Nigeria) - 134,368,000; Kinshasha (DRC) - 14,342,000; Luanda (Angola) - 8,330,000; Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania) - 6,702,000; Khartoum (Sudan) - 5,829,000; Johannesburg (South Africa) - 5,783,000; Alexandria (Egypt) - 5,281,000; Abidjan (Cote d'Ivoire) - 5,203,000; Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) - 4,794,000

Asia - Tokyo (Japan) - 37,393,000; New Delhi (India) - 30,291,000; Shanghai (China) - 27,058,000; Dhaka (Bangladesh) - 21,006,000; Beijing (China) - 20,463,000; Mumbai (India) - 20,411,000; Osaka (Japan) - 19,165,000; Karachi (Pakistan) - 16,094,000; Chongqing (China) - 15,872,000; Istanbul (Turkey) - 15,190,000

Europe - Moscow (Russia) - 12,538,000; Paris (France) - 11,017,000; London (United Kingdom) - 9,304,000; Madrid (Spain) - 6,618,000; Barcelona (Spain) - 5,586,000, Saint Petersburg (Russia) -  5,468,000; Rome (Italy) - 4,257,000; Berlin (Germany) - 3,562,000; Athens (Greece) - 3,153,000; Milan (Italy) - 3,140,000

North America - Mexico City (Mexico) - 21,782,000; New York-Newark (United States) - 18,804,000; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana (United States) - 12,447,000; Chicago (United States) - 8,865,000; Houston (United States) - 6,371,000; Dallas-Fort Worth (United States) - 6,301,000; Toronto (Canada) - 6,197,000; Miami (United States) - 6,122,000; Atlanta (United States) - 5,803,000; Philadelphia (United States) - 5,717,000

Oceania - Melbourne (Australia) - 4,968,000, Sydney (Australia) - 4,926,000; Brisbane (Australia) - 2,406,000; Perth (Australia) - 2,042,000; Auckland (New Zealand) - 1,607,000; Adelaide (Australia) - 1,336,000; Gold Coast-Tweed Head (Australia) - 699,000; Canberra (Australia) - 457,000; Newcastle-Maitland (Australia) - 450,000; Wellington (New Zealand) - 415,000

South America - Sao Paulo (Brazil) - 22,043,000; Buenos Aires (Argentina) - 15,154,000; Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) - 13,458,000; Bogota (Colombia) - 10,978,000; Lima (Peru) - 10,719,000; Santiago (Chile) - 6,767,000; Belo Horizonte (Brazil) - 6,084,000; Brasilia (Brazil) - 4,646,000; Porto Alegre (Brazil) - 4,137,000; Recife (Brazil) - 4,127,000 (2020)

63.8% (2024 est.)

12.3% (2022)