What is the difference in population between Afghanistan and Poland?

2.69 million people, with Afghanistan ahead.

How many years of comparable data are there for Afghanistan and Poland?

241 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2023.

Where does this data come from?

HYDE (2023); Gapminder (2022); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Population. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Afghanistan vs Poland: Population

Afghanistan

41.45 million people

in 2023

Poland

38.76 million people

in 2023

Afghanistan rank

36th

Poland rank

39th

Population over time

Afghanistan
Poland

How they compare

Afghanistan currently reports 41.45 million people against 38.76 million people in Poland, a difference of 2.69 million people.

That makes Afghanistan's figure about 1.1 times Poland's.

The two have swapped places 2 times across 241 shared years of data; in 1000 it was Afghanistan ahead.

Afghanistan ranks 36th and Poland ranks 39th of 238 countries.

Across the 40 decades both report, Afghanistan averaged higher in 4 and Poland in 36.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Afghanistan	Poland	Difference	Ahead
1000s	2.25 million people	1.25 million people	1.00 million people	Afghanistan
1100s	2.38 million people	1.50 million people	875,000 people	Afghanistan
1200s	2.50 million people	2.25 million people	250,000 people	Afghanistan
1300s	1.75 million people	3.50 million people	1.75 million people	Poland
1400s	1.88 million people	3.50 million people	1.62 million people	Poland
1500s	2.00 million people	4.00 million people	2.00 million people	Poland
1600s	2.50 million people	5.00 million people	2.50 million people	Poland
1700s	2.50 million people	6.00 million people	3.50 million people	Poland
1710s	2.56 million people	6.25 million people	3.69 million people	Poland
1720s	2.62 million people	6.55 million people	3.93 million people	Poland
1730s	2.68 million people	6.86 million people	4.18 million people	Poland
1740s	2.74 million people	7.19 million people	4.45 million people	Poland
1750s	2.80 million people	7.53 million people	4.73 million people	Poland
1760s	2.87 million people	7.89 million people	5.02 million people	Poland
1770s	2.93 million people	8.26 million people	5.33 million people	Poland
1780s	3.00 million people	8.66 million people	5.66 million people	Poland
1790s	3.07 million people	9.07 million people	6.00 million people	Poland
1800s	3.28 million people	9.30 million people	6.02 million people	Poland
1810s	3.28 million people	10.02 million people	6.74 million people	Poland
1820s	3.35 million people	10.78 million people	7.43 million people	Poland
1830s	3.50 million people	11.60 million people	8.10 million people	Poland
1840s	3.66 million people	12.49 million people	8.83 million people	Poland
1850s	3.83 million people	13.78 million people	9.95 million people	Poland
1860s	4.00 million people	15.63 million people	11.63 million people	Poland
1870s	4.18 million people	17.93 million people	13.74 million people	Poland
1880s	4.37 million people	20.79 million people	16.42 million people	Poland
1890s	4.57 million people	23.32 million people	18.74 million people	Poland
1900s	4.96 million people	25.10 million people	20.13 million people	Poland
1910s	7.54 million people	24.83 million people	17.28 million people	Poland
1920s	8.65 million people	25.27 million people	16.62 million people	Poland
1930s	6.44 million people	28.30 million people	21.86 million people	Poland
1940s	6.88 million people	26.93 million people	20.05 million people	Poland
1950s	8.29 million people	26.88 million people	18.59 million people	Poland
1960s	9.97 million people	31.06 million people	21.10 million people	Poland
1970s	12.58 million people	33.84 million people	21.26 million people	Poland
1980s	11.58 million people	36.93 million people	25.34 million people	Poland
1990s	16.11 million people	38.28 million people	22.17 million people	Poland
2000s	23.78 million people	38.13 million people	14.35 million people	Poland
2010s	33.14 million people	38.23 million people	5.09 million people	Poland
2020s	40.28 million people	38.34 million people	1.94 million people	Afghanistan

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher population, Afghanistan or Poland?: Afghanistan, at 41.45 million people against 38.76 million people in Poland as of 2023.
What is the difference in population between Afghanistan and Poland?: 2.69 million people, with Afghanistan ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Afghanistan and Poland?: 241 years are reported by both, from 1000 to 2023.
How do Afghanistan and Poland rank globally for population?: Afghanistan ranks 36th and Poland ranks 39th of 238 countries.
Where does this data come from?: HYDE (2023); Gapminder (2022); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as Population. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator: Population
Unit: people
Source: HYDE (2023); Gapminder (2022); UN WPP (2024) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 239 places, 51,002 data points, 1000–2023
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Population by country, available from 10,000 BCE to 2023, based on data and estimates from different sources.