Aviva Trivia

The world population is said to be over 6.5 billion.  But where do all those billions of people live?  Here are some interesting facts about where we dwell on this big globe of ours.

China:
With a population of 1.3 billion, China tops this list of the world’s most populous countries.  In fact, 1 out of every 5 people in the world live in the People’s Republic of China.  The nation continues to face serious overpopulation issues despite boasting the forth-largest land area of any country.

India:
India is the second most populated place on earth.  With 1.1 billion residents packed into an area one-third the size of the United States, it is easy to see why India is considered one of the world’s most crowded places as well.  India is an advancing industrialized nation with a large English-speaking population.  Like China, however, over-population is a major problem in India, exasperating a seemingly perpetual poverty over much of the country.

United States:
The U.S. weighs in third on all-world list with nearly 300 million people.  Conveniently, it also comes in third in total land area.  There are some places where the land is becoming quite scarce, however.  California’s population, for instance, has rocketed over 36 million in recent years.  That means more than 1 in every 8 U.S. citizens now live in California.  Almost one-third of those live in highly congested Los Angeles County. 

Indonesia:
It surprises many that Indonesia ranks forth in overall population.  But with 245 million residents, Indonesia follows closely behind the United States in this distinction.  Perhaps even more surprisingly, they do it with one-fifth the space available in the U.S..  Indonesia is a country made-up of over 17,000 islands of which roughly 6,000 are inhabited. 

Brazil:
Brazil is the fifth largest country by population.  Almost 190 million Brazilians make up this largest South American nation.  Much like the United States, Brazil’s population is also equal to their land area ranking.  Brazil occupies the fifth largest land area in the world and the third largest in the Americas, behind Canada and the United States respectively.

Nauru:
Though not as lightly populated as The Vatican, Nauru does hold the distinction of being the world’s smallest independent republic.  This tiny South Pacific nation has a population of just more than 13,000.  The people of Nauru live on a bean-shaped island only about 8 square miles in area.

Bangladesh:
While having the seventh largest population in the world doesn’t sound impressive at first, Bangladesh’s 147 million people are crammed into an area half the size of Italy (population 58 million.)  To make matters worse, flooding and monsoons regularly devastate much of the land, creating serious refugee issues in this impoverished Asian nation.

Russia:
Even after the break-up of the former Soviet Union, Russia is still one of the world’s most populated countries.  Its 143 million citizens live in the largest land area of any other country.  At almost twice the size of the next contender, Russia spans over 6.5 million square miles of territory.  Like the second largest country in land area, Canada, much of Russia is frozen arctic tundra, which spans the continents of Europe and Asia.