List of countries by population in 1939

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1900	1939	1989

This is a list of countries by population in 1939 (including any dependent, occupied or colonized territories for empires), providing an approximate overview of the world population before World War II.

Population distribution by country in 1939

Estimate numbers are from the beginning of the year, and exact population figures are for countries that were having a census in the year 1939 (which were on various dates in that year).

Rank	Country/territory	Population c. 1939	Percentage of world's population
	World^[1]	2,300,000,000	–
1	British Empire^[2]^[3] subdivisions United Kingdom – 47,760,000  India – 377,800,000 British Africa – 80,235,225 constituents Nigeria – 19,753,000  Egypt – 16,492,000 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan – 6,342,500 Tanganyika – 5,372,812 Kenya – 4,500,000 Uganda – 3,747,200 Gold Coast – 3,700,300 Sierra Leone – 1,974,700 Nyasaland – 1,680,000 Southern Rhodesia – 1,400,000 Northern Rhodesia – 1,390,000 British Cameroons – 1,024,425 Basutoland – 622,000 Mauritius – 422,000 British Somaliland – 350,000 Bechuanaland Protectorate – 275,000 Gambia – 205,000 Swaziland – 158,000 Zanzibar – 150,088 Seychelles – 31,500 Burma – 16,119,000  Australia – 6,968,000 Malaya – 5,386,300 constituents Federated Malay States — 2,145,000   Unfederated Malay States — 1,871,000 Straits Settlements — 1,370,300 British West Indies – 3,702,600 constituents Jamaica – 1,178,600 British Honduras – 55,000 Trinidad and Tobago – 476,000 British Guiana – 339,000 Windward Islands – 216,100 constituents Grenada – 89,000 Saint Lucia – 69,100 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – 58,000 Barbados – 177,000 Leeward Islands – 142,400 constituents Dominica – 50,600 Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla – 37,600 Antigua and Barbuda – 34,100 Montserrat – 13,700 British Virgin Islands – 6,400 The Bahamas – 67,000 Bermuda – 30,500  New Zealand – 1,668,800 Mandatory Palestine – 1,466,500 Papua and New Guinea – 1,292,000 Hong Kong — 1,282,000 Aden^[note 1] – 994,000 Jordan — 991,000 Sarawak — 460,000 British Western Pacific Territories – 425,820 constituents Fiji — 210,500 Solomon Islands — 95,000 New Hebrides — 43,000  Tonga — 35,000 Gilbert and Ellice Islands — 33,400 Niue — 4,000 Nauru – 3,400 Tokelau — 1,300 Pitcairn Islands – 220 Cyprus — 393,000  Muscat and Oman — 386,000 Newfoundland – 314,900 North Borneo — 300,000 Malta – 269,000   Trucial States — 110,000 Maldives — 87,000 Kuwait — 50,000 Brunei – 38,000 Gibraltar^[4] – 19,000 Saint Helena – 4,700 Falkland Islands – 2,400	545,463,825	23.7%
2	Japanese Empire^[2]^[3] subdivisions  Japan – 71,900,000 Recently occupied China – 200,000,000 including Reformed Government of the Republic of China Provisional Government of the Republic of China  Mengjiang  Manchukuo – 50,000,000 Korea – 24,326,000 Formosa – 6,586,000 South Pacific Mandate – 127,000	304,119,000	13.2%
3	China^[3]	267,568,000	11.6%
4	Soviet Union^[5] subdivisions Russian SFSR – 108,377,000 Ukrainian SSR – 32,425,000 Uzbek SSR – 6,271,269 Kazakh SSR – 6,081,000 Byelorussian SSR – 5,568,994 Georgian SSR – 3,540,023 Azerbaijan SSR – 3,205,000 Kirghiz SSR – 1,458,213 Tajik SSR – 1,458,091 Armenian SSR – 1,282,338 Turkmen SSR – 1,251,883	170,918,811	7.4%
5	United States^[3] subdivisions  United States – 131,028,000 Hawaii – 422,770 Alaska – 59,278 Puerto Rico – 1,543,913  Philippines – 16,000,000 Guam – 22,800	148,594,713	6.5%
6	French Empire^[2]^[3]^[6] subdivisions  France – 42,000,000 French Indochina – 24,664,000 French North Africa^[7]^[note 2] – 16,920,000 constituents French Algeria – 7,517,000 French Morocco – 6,622,200 French Tunisia – 2,781,000 French West Africa – 13,393,200 constituents French Sudan – 3,635,100 French Upper Volta – 3,308,000 French Guinea – 2,065,500 Colony of Niger – 1,809,600 French Dahomey – 1,532,000 French Togoland – 1,043,000 French Equatorial Africa – 4,421,000 constituents French Congo – 2,400,000 French Chad – 2,021,000 French Madagascar – 3,900,000 Syria – 2,516,000 French Cameroons – 2,381,272 Lebanon – 1,168,000 French Comoros – 137,000 French Polynesia – 51,200 French Guiana – 24,000	111,524,472	4.8%
7	Germany^[2]^[3]^[8] subdivisions  Germany – 69,314,000 Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia – 7,380,000 Austria – 6,658,000 Sudetenland – 3,261,636 Memel – 141,645	86,755,281	3.8%
8	Dutch Empire^[3] subdivisions  Netherlands – 8,729,000 Dutch East Indies – 69,435,000 Dutch Guyana – 173,100 Aruba – 29,200 Curaçao and Dependencies – ? Sint Maarten – ?	78,366,300	3.4%
9	Italian Empire^[2]^[3]^[9] subdivisions  Italy – 43,400,000 Italian East Africa – 12,100,000 Albania^[10] – 1,063,893 Italian Libya – 893,774 Italian Islands of the Aegean^[11] – 132,489 Italian concession of Tientsin^[12] – 6,261	57,596,517	2.5%
10	Brazil^[3]	40,289,000	1.8%
11	Poland^[3]	34,849,000	1.5%
12	Spanish Empire^[3] subdivisions  Spain – 25,637,000 Spanish Morocco^[7]^[3]^[note 3] – 735,800  Spanish Sahara^[13]– 450,000	26,822,800	1.2%
13	Belgian Empire^[3] subdivisions  Belgium – 8,387,000  Belgian Congo – 10,304,100 Ruanda-Urundi – 3,800,000	22,491,000	1.0%
14	Romania^[3]	19,933,800	0.9%
15	Mexico^[3]	19,320,000	0.8%
16	Portuguese Empire^[3] subdivisions  Portugal – 7,627,000 Mozambique – 5,086,500 Angola – 3,740,800 Portuguese India – 624,100 constituents Goa – 583,700 Dadra and Nagar Haveli – 40,400 Portuguese Timor – 480,000 Portuguese Guinea – 420,000 Macau – 374,700 Cape Verde – 181,300 São Tomé and Príncipe – 61,000	18,595,400	0.8%
17	Turkey^[3]	17,370,000	0.8%
18	Yugoslavia^[3]	15,490,000	0.7%
19	Thailand^[3]	15,023,000	0.7%
20	Persia^[3]	14,340,000	0.6%
21	Argentina^[3]	13,948,000	0.6%
22	Canada^[14]^[a]	11,267,000	0.5%
23	Union of South Africa^[b]	10,160,000	0.4%
24	Hungary^[3]	9,129,000	0.4%
25	Colombia^[3]	8,896,000	0.4%
26	Greece^[3]	7,222,000	0.3%
27	Afghanistan	6,970,000	0.3%
28	Peru^[3]	6,572,000	0.3%
29	Bulgaria^[3]	6,458,000	0.3%
30	Sweden^[3]	6,341,000	0.3%
31	Nepal^[3]	6,087,000	0.3%
32	Chile^[3]	4,914,000	0.2%
33	Cuba^[3]	4,235,000	0.18%
34	Switzerland^[3]	4,210,000	0.18%
35	Denmark (including colonies)^[3]^[15]^[16] subdivisions  Denmark – 3,795,000  Iceland – 118,900 Faroe Islands – 26,900 Greenland – 18,400	3,959,200	0.17%
36	Finland^[3]	3,700,000	0.16%
37	Iraq^[3]	3,698,000	0.16%
38	Venezuela^[3]	3,628,000	0.16%
39	Ireland^[3]	2,960,000	0.13%
40	Norway^[3]	2,945,000	0.13%
41	Yemen^[3]^[note 4]	2,775,000	0.12%
42	Haiti^[3]	2,707,000	0.12%
43	Saudi Arabia^[3]	2,670,000	0.12%
44	Bolivia^[3]	2,659,000	0.12%
45	Slovakia^[17]	2,655,000	0.12%
46	Lithuania^[3]	2,575,000	0.11%
47	Ecuador^[3]	2,412,000	0.10%
48	Guatemala^[3]	2,150,000	0.093%
49	Latvia^[3]	1,994,500	0.087%
50	Uruguay^[3]	1,953,000	0.085%
51	Dominican Republic^[3]	1,634,000	0.071%
52	El Salvador^[3]	1,459,600	0.063%
53	Estonia^[3]	1,134,000	0.049%
54	Honduras^[3]	1,096,950	0.048%
55	Albania^[3]	1,073,000	0.047%
56	Tibet^[3]	1,000,000	0.043%
57	Paraguay^[3]	931,800	0.041%
58	Mongolia^[3]	819,000	0.036%
59	Nicaragua^[3]	806,000	0.035%
60	Liberia^[3]	780,000	0.034%
61	Costa Rica^[3]	623,400	0.027%
62	Panama^[3]	605,000	0.026%
63	Bhutan (semi-independent British protectorate)	470,000	0.020%
64	Danzig^[18]^[note 5]	408,000	0.018%
65	Luxembourg^[3]	295,000	0.013%
66	Monaco^[3]	24,000	0.0010%
67	San Marino^[3]	14,500	0.00063%
68	Liechtenstein^[3]	13,000	0.00057%
69	Andorra^[3]	6,000	0.00026%
70	Vatican City^[3]	1,000	0.000046%

See also

• List of countries by population
• List of countries by population in 1900
• List of countries by population in 1989
• List of countries by population in 2000
• List of countries by population in 2005
• List of territories occupied by the United Kingdom
• List of territories occupied by Imperial Japan

Notes

1. The population of the Crown Colony of Aden was derived by taking the population ratio between North and South Yemen in 1975 (see reference) and applying that same distribution to both Yemens in 1939.
2. According to the preceding reference, French Morocco contained 90% of the Moroccan population in 1955. This ratio was used for the Moroccan population of 1939. Please update if more accurate information is available.
3. Population distribution according to first reference was 10% in Spanish Morocco and 90% for French Morocco in 1955. This ratio was used to divide the 1939 total Moroccan population figures. Please update if more accurate information is found.
4. The population of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen was derived by taking the population ratio between North and South Yemen in 1975 (see reference) and applying that same distribution to both Yemeni states in 1939
5. The figures for Danzig are from 1929.

Constituents

1. Semi-independent British dominion
2. Semi-independent British dominion

References

1. "U.S. Census BureauWorld Population Historical Estimates of World Population". Retrieved March 4, 2016.
2. Mark Harrison, ed. (1998), "The Economics of WWII"., Cambridge University Press
3. . Library.uu.nl. Archived from the original on 23 February 2015. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
4. "Abstract of Statistics 2011" (PDF). H.M. Government of Gibraltar Statistics Office.
5. A. G. Volkov Census of 1937 Facts and Fictions originally published in Перепись населения СССР 1937 года. История и материалы/Экспресс-информация. Серия "История статистики". Выпуск 3–5 (часть II). М., 1990/ с. 6–63
6. Tony Chafer, The end of empire in French West Africa: France's successful decolonisation? (2002)see Chafer abstract 2017-03-14 at the Wayback Machine
7. "Spanish Morocco".
8. Statistisches Jahrbuch für das Deutsche Reich, 1919–1941/42
9. Istat (December 2010). (PDF). Annali di Statistica. XII. 2: 269. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2014. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
10. [1] Soldaten-Atlas (Tornisterschrift des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht, Heft 39). Leipzig: Bibliographisches Institut. 1941. p. 32.
11. Annuario Generale, Consociazione Turistica Italiana, Roma, 1938
12. Grasselli, Enrico. "L’esercito italiano in Francia e in Oriente" p. 370-371
13. William Stanton (2004), "The Rapid Growth of Human Populations 1750–2000: Histories, Consequences, Issues, Nation by Nation"., Multi-Science Publishing Co. Ltd., ISBN 9780906522219, retrieved May 13, 2017
14. "Censuses of Canada 1665 to 1871: Estimated population of Canada, 1605 to present". Statistics Canada. 2015. Retrieved 2020-09-12.
15. Statistical yearbooks of Denmark
16. Statistics Faroe Islands 2011-05-11 at the Wayback Machine
17. "Slovensko v rokoch 1938 - 1945". Múzeum Slovenského národného povstania (in Slovak). Retrieved 2022-08-24.
18. Mason, John Brown (1946). The Danzig Dilemma, A Study in Peacemaking by Compromise. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-2444-9. Retrieved 2011-04-26.