China vs India: Population

China

1.42 billion people

in 2023

India

1.44 billion people

in 2023

China rank

2nd

India rank

1st

Population over time

India currently reports 1.44 billion people against 1.42 billion people in China, a difference of 15.49 million people.

The two have swapped places 1 time across 74 shared years of data; in 1950 it was China ahead.

China ranks 2nd and India ranks 1st of 236 countries.

Indicator: Population
Unit: people
Source: UN, World Population Prospects (2024) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 236 places, 17,464 data points, 1950–2023
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

The total population, measured on 1 July of the year shown.