China vs USSR: Population

China

1.42 billion people

in 2023

USSR

292.66 million people

in 1991

China rank

2nd

USSR rank

1st

Population over time

China currently reports 1.42 billion people against 292.66 million people in USSR, a difference of 1.13 billion people.

That makes China's figure about 4.9 times USSR's.

Across all 209 years both countries report, China has been ahead every year.

China ranks 2nd and USSR ranks 1st of 238 countries.

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.