The breathing globe
150 years of population growth on a spinning Earth. Countries glow green while they grow, fade to red as they shrink, and send out a ripple the moment they peak. Best on desktop; drag to rotate.
In 1950 the whole planet glows green: nearly every country is growing, many at breakneck speed. Watch what happens as the decades roll by. The reds appear first in Europe, then spread east as Japan, China and the rest of East Asia peak one by one, each marked by a ripple. By 2084, when the world’s own population tops out around 10.3 billion, the green has retreated to sub-Saharan Africa and a handful of immigration-driven exceptions. So far, 65 countries have already peaked.
The same story in two dimensions, with every country’s exact numbers: the animated peak map, the static peak map, and the article When will world population peak? All figures are annual growth rates from the UN World Population Prospects 2024 medium variant; see the methodology.