The bar chart gives information on the share of the total world population by four countries of India, China, USA and Japan, as well as the forecasts for 2050. Most strikingly, it can be seen that India is forecasted to overtake China in 2050 as having the most populous country. Furthermore, the population of Japan is predicted to shrink even further in the future.
Starting in the 1950s, China was by far the most populated country out of the 4, making up close to a quarter of the world’s population. Meanwhile, India came in second at 15 percent, followed by the USA and Japan, at around 7 and 4.5 percent respectively. However, in the subsequent years, China’s share of the world’s population fell steadily, and is expected to fall below India’s – in 2002, it fell to 20%, while India’s population grew to 15% of the world population. By 2050, it is projected that China’s fall of the world total inhabitants would again fall to 15%, while India would usurp it at around 18 percent.
Meanwhile, the US’ population in 2002 was 5% of the world’s total, and this is expected to remain the same by 2050. Meanwhile, the population of Japan as a proportion of the total is expected to fall from 3 percent to 1 percent by mid century.