The World
The planet
| Name | Earth — the third planet from the Sun and the only one known to hold life |
|---|---|
| Age | About 4.54 billion years |
| Surface area | 510.1 million km² (196.9 million sq mi) |
| Land area | 148.9 million km² (57.5 million sq mi) — 29.2% of the surface |
| Water area | 361.1 million km² (139.4 million sq mi) — 70.8% of the surface |
| Equatorial circumference | 40,075 km (24,901 mi) |
| Mean diameter | 12,742 km (7,918 mi); the Earth bulges at the equator, so the summit of Chimborazo in Ecuador, not Everest, is the point farthest from the planet’s center |
| Mass | About 5.97 × 10²⁴ kg |
| Distance from the Sun | About 149.6 million km (93.0 million mi) — one astronomical unit |
| Year | 365.256 days — hence a leap day every four years |
| Day | 23 hours 56 minutes 4 seconds of rotation; 24 hours from noon to noon |
| Axial tilt | 23.44° — the cause of the seasons |
| The Moon | One natural satellite, about 384,400 km (238,900 mi) away; first reached by humans on July 20, 1969 |
| Continents | 7 — Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, Australia (Oceania) |
| Oceans | 5 — Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, Arctic |
| Highest point | Mount Everest, 8,848.86 m (29,032 ft), Nepal–China — fixed by the joint China–Nepal survey of 2020 |
| Lowest point on land | The shore of the Dead Sea, Israel–Jordan, about 430 m (1,410 ft) below sea level and falling about a meter a year |
| Deepest point | The Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, Pacific Ocean, about 10,935 m (35,876 ft); surveys give figures from 10,911 to 10,994 m |
Quick facts
| World population | About 8.3 billion (UN, 2026); it passed 8 billion on November 15, 2022 |
|---|---|
| Countries | 193 United Nations member states and 2 observer states (the Holy See and Palestine) — the 195 most references count |
| Most populous country | India, about 1.46 billion (UN, 2025–26); China second at about 1.41 billion; the United States third at about 347 million |
| Least populous country | Vatican City — a population in the hundreds |
| Largest country by area | Russia, about 17.1 million km² (6.6 million sq mi) |
| Smallest country | Vatican City, 0.44 km² (0.17 sq mi) |
| Largest city | Tokyo, Japan — about 37 million in the urban agglomeration (UN); Delhi is second and projected to overtake it |
| Most spoken language | English, about 1.5 billion speakers including second-language speakers; Mandarin Chinese has the most native speakers, about 940 million |
| Largest religion | Christianity, about 2.4 billion adherents — some 31% of people; Islam second, about 2 billion and growing fastest |
| World economy | About US$118 trillion in 2025 (IMF, April 2026) |
| Largest economy | United States, about US$30.8 trillion (2025) — 26% of the world total |
| Median age | About 31 years (2026); Africa is the youngest continent, with a median near 19, Japan and much of Europe the oldest |
| Life expectancy | 73.3 years at birth (2024, UN) |
| Urban share | About 58% of people live in cities (2026), up from 30% in 1950 |
| Adult literacy | About 87% of adults worldwide (UNESCO) |
| Internet users | About 5.5 billion — roughly two-thirds of humanity (ITU, 2024–25) |
| United Nations | Founded October 24, 1945; headquarters in New York; six official languages — Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish |
| Time zones | From UTC−12 to UTC+14 — 26 hours between the earliest and latest clocks; France has the most zones of any country, 12, through its overseas territories |
Flags & world bodies
| National flags | Every UN member state and the observers fly a national flag; the oldest continuously used national flag is Denmark’s Dannebrog, dated by tradition to 1219, and Nepal’s is the only one that is not a rectangle.World Flags |
|---|---|
| Flag of the United Nations | A world map in the azimuthal equidistant projection centered on the North Pole, within olive branches, in white on UN blue — adopted December 7, 1946 |
| Olympic rings | Five interlaced rings on white, designed by Pierre de Coubertin in 1913 — the continents united; first flown at the 1920 Antwerp Games |
| The Red Cross | A red cross on white — the Swiss flag reversed — adopted by the 1864 Geneva Convention; the Red Crescent joined it in 1876 |
| UN Security Council | Five permanent members with a veto — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States — and ten elected for two-year terms |
| UN Secretary-General | The organization’s chief officer, appointed for five-year terms by the General Assembly on the Council’s recommendation |
| Largest regional bloc | The African Union — 55 member states |
| Largest economic bloc | The European Union — 27 member states and a single market of about 450 million people |
| G20 | Nineteen countries plus the European Union and, since 2023, the African Union — about 85% of world GDP |
| Newest UN member | South Sudan, admitted July 14, 2011, five days after independence |
Land & sea
| Largest continent | Asia, about 44.6 million km² (17.2 million sq mi) and about 60% of the world’s people |
|---|---|
| Smallest continent | Australia (Oceania), about 8.6 million km² (3.3 million sq mi) with its islands |
| Largest ocean | Pacific, 165.25 million km² (63.8 million sq mi) — larger than all the land on Earth put together; also the deepest, averaging about 4,280 m |
| Smallest ocean | Arctic, about 14 million km² (5.4 million sq mi) |
| Largest sea | The Philippine Sea, about 5 million km² (1.9 million sq mi); the Coral and Arabian seas follow |
| Longest river | Nile, about 6,650 km (4,130 mi) by the traditional count; the Amazon, 6,400 km (3,980 mi) or more, is claimed longer by some measurements and carries the greatest flow of any river |
| Largest river by flow | Amazon — about a fifth of all the fresh water that reaches the oceans |
| Largest lake | Caspian Sea, about 371,000 km² (143,000 sq mi) — salty and landlocked, counted as a lake |
| Largest freshwater lake | Lake Superior, about 82,100 km² (31,700 sq mi), by area; Lake Baikal, Siberia, by volume — about a fifth of the world’s unfrozen fresh water |
| Deepest lake | Lake Baikal, 1,642 m (5,387 ft) — also the oldest, about 25 million years |
| Highest navigable lake | Titicaca, Peru–Bolivia, 3,812 m (12,507 ft) |
| Largest island | Greenland, 2,166,086 km² (836,330 sq mi); Australia is counted as a continent |
| Largest archipelago | The Malay Archipelago; Indonesia alone has more than 17,000 islands |
| Largest peninsula | The Arabian Peninsula, about 3.2 million km² (1.25 million sq mi) |
| Largest bay and gulf | The Bay of Bengal, about 2.2 million km²; the Gulf of Mexico, about 1.6 million km² |
| Largest desert | Antarctica, about 14.2 million km² (5.5 million sq mi) — a polar desert; the Sahara, about 9.2 million km² (3.6 million sq mi), is the largest hot desert |
| Largest rainforest | The Amazon, about 5.5 million km² (2.1 million sq mi) across nine countries |
| Longest mountain range on land | The Andes, about 7,000 km (4,350 mi) along South America’s western edge; the mid-ocean ridge system, about 65,000 km, is the longest of all |
| Highest mountain range | The Himalaya, with all fourteen of the world’s 8,000 m peaks together with the Karakoram |
| Highest volcano | Ojos del Salado, Argentina–Chile, 6,893 m (22,615 ft); Mauna Loa in Hawaii is the largest active volcano by volume |
| Tallest waterfall | Angel Falls, Venezuela, 979 m (3,212 ft) |
| Largest coral reef | The Great Barrier Reef, Australia, about 2,300 km (1,430 mi) long |
| Longest cave | Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, more than 685 km (426 mi) surveyed |
| Deepest cave | Veryovkina Cave, Abkhazia, Georgia, 2,212 m (7,257 ft) |
| Largest delta | The Ganges–Brahmaputra delta, Bangladesh and India, about 100,000 km² (39,000 sq mi) |
| Longest coastline | Canada, about 202,000 km (125,500 mi) including its islands |
| Highest capital city | La Paz, Bolivia (seat of government), about 3,640 m (11,940 ft); Quito, Ecuador, is the highest constitutional capital at about 2,850 m |
Countries
| Sovereign states | 193 UN members, 2 UN observers, and a few states with limited recognition, such as Kosovo and Taiwan |
|---|---|
| Landlocked countries | 44, plus Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan, which are doubly landlocked — surrounded only by landlocked neighbors |
| Island countries | About 47, from Indonesia to Nauru |
| Most neighbors | China and Russia, 14 land neighbors each |
| Newest widely recognized state | South Sudan, independent July 9, 2011 |
| Oldest republic | San Marino, by tradition founded in AD 301 |
| Most populous city-state | Singapore, about 6 million |
| Most official languages | Bolivia — 37; Zimbabwe — 16; India recognizes 22 scheduled languages |
| Most languages spoken | Papua New Guinea, about 840 living languages |
| Countries on the equator | 13 — the equator crosses the land or waters of Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, São Tomé and Príncipe, Gabon, Congo, DR Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, the Maldives, Indonesia and Kiribati |
| Countries with no armed forces | About 20, among them Costa Rica (since 1949), Iceland, Panama and Vatican City |
| First country to grant women the vote | New Zealand, 1893 |
| Most time zones | France, 12; Russia spans 11 across one landmass |
| Largest empire in history | The British Empire, about a quarter of the world’s land and people at its 1920s peak; the Mongol Empire was the largest contiguous |
| Highest life expectancy | Monaco, Hong Kong and Japan, all above 84 years |
| Highest GDP per person | Luxembourg, Ireland, Switzerland and Singapore, all above US$99,000 (2025); Monaco higher still among microstates |
| Most visited country | France — about 100 million international arrivals a year |
People
| Population | About 8.3 billion (UN, 2026) — growing by roughly 70 million a year, about 0.85% and slowing |
|---|---|
| Population by continent | Asia about 4.8 billion (60%); Africa about 1.5 billion; Europe about 745 million; Latin America and the Caribbean about 660 million; Northern America about 385 million; Oceania about 46 million |
| Births and deaths | About 130 million births and 65 million deaths a year (UN, 2024) |
| Fertility rate | About 2.2 children per woman (2025) — half the 1960s peak |
| Median age | About 31 years; projected to reach 36 by 2050 |
| Life expectancy | 73.3 years (2024) — from about 47 in 1950 |
| Sex ratio | About 101 men for every 100 women |
| Urban population | About 58% — more than 4.8 billion people in cities; 35 or more megacities of over 10 million |
| Largest urban areas | Tokyo, Delhi, Shanghai, Dhaka, São Paulo, Cairo (UN, agglomerations) |
| Most spoken languages | English, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, Arabic (all speakers); Mandarin, Spanish, English, Hindi, Bengali (native speakers) |
| Number of languages | About 7,000 living languages; roughly 40% are endangered |
| Religions | Christians about 2.4 billion (31%), Muslims about 2 billion (25%), the religiously unaffiliated about 1.9 billion, Hindus about 1.2 billion, Buddhists about 500 million (Pew Research, 2020 baseline) |
| Literacy | About 87% of adults; about 92% of young people aged 15–24 |
| Refugees and displaced people | More than 120 million forcibly displaced, the highest ever recorded (UNHCR, 2024) |
| Humans who have ever lived | About 110–117 billion — the 8.3 billion alive today are roughly 7% of everyone who has ever been born |
World economy
| World GDP (nominal) | About US$118 trillion (2025, IMF April 2026) |
|---|---|
| World GDP per person | About US$14,000 (2025) |
| World growth | About 3.3% a year (2025–26, IMF) |
| Largest economies | United States US$30.8 trillion · China US$19.6 trillion · Germany US$5.0 trillion · Japan US$4.4 trillion · United Kingdom US$4.0 trillion · India US$3.9 trillion (2025) |
| Largest economy by purchasing power | China, ahead of the United States and India (IMF, PPP) |
| Fastest-growing major economy | India, about 7–8% a year (2025) |
| Smallest economy | Tuvalu, about US$58 million (2025) |
| Richest per person | Luxembourg, about US$148,000; Ireland about US$131,000; Switzerland about US$116,000 (2025); Monaco, a microstate, about US$288,000 |
| Poorest per person | Burundi, South Sudan, Afghanistan and Yemen, each below US$500 (2025) |
| Reserve currency | The U.S. dollar — about 58% of central-bank foreign reserves; the euro second at about 20% |
| Largest trading nation | China — the largest exporter of goods; the United States the largest importer |
| Largest stock exchange | The New York Stock Exchange, by the value of listed companies |
| Most traded commodity | Crude oil — about 100 million barrels a day |
| World Trade Organization | 166 members; founded January 1, 1995, succeeding the GATT of 1947 |
Records & extremes
| Hottest air temperature | 56.7 °C (134 °F), Furnace Creek, Death Valley, California, July 10, 1913 |
|---|---|
| Coldest air temperature | −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F), Vostok Station, Antarctica, July 21, 1983 |
| Wettest place | Mawsynram, Meghalaya, India — about 11,870 mm (467 in) of rain a year |
| Driest place | The Atacama Desert, Chile — parts record no rain for years; the Dry Valleys of Antarctica are drier still |
| Windiest place | Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica — average winds above 80 km/h (50 mph) |
| Tallest building | Burj Khalifa, Dubai, 828 m (2,717 ft), completed 2010 |
| Longest bridge | Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge, China, 164.8 km (102.4 mi), on the Beijing–Shanghai railway |
| Longest wall | The Great Wall of China — about 21,196 km (13,171 mi) across all its sections |
| Longest tunnel | The Gotthard Base Tunnel, Switzerland, 57.1 km (35.5 mi), opened 2016 |
| Longest railway | The Trans-Siberian, Moscow to Vladivostok, 9,289 km (5,772 mi) |
| Busiest airport | Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International, more than 100 million passengers a year |
| Largest dam by power | The Three Gorges Dam, China — 22,500 MW |
| Largest sports event | The FIFA World Cup — the 2026 edition in the United States, Canada and Mexico, with 48 teams |
| Highest railway | The Qinghai–Tibet line, China, reaching 5,072 m (16,640 ft) at the Tanggula Pass |
| Deepest mine | Mponeng gold mine, South Africa, about 4 km (2.5 mi) below the surface |
| Largest structure ever built | The Great Wall of China; by volume, the Great Pyramid of Giza was the tallest structure for more than 3,800 years |
History in dates
| c. 300,000 years ago | Homo sapiens emerges in Africa |
|---|---|
| c. 10,000 BC | Farming begins in the Fertile Crescent |
| c. 3200 BC | Writing appears in Mesopotamia and Egypt |
| 1 billion people | About 1804 |
| 2 billion | 1927 · 3 billion — 1960 · 4 billion — 1974 |
| 5 billion | 1987 · 6 billion — 1999 · 7 billion — 2011 |
| 8 billion | November 15, 2022 — the UN’s Day of Eight Billion |
| 1492 | Columbus reaches the Americas |
| 1522 | Magellan’s expedition completes the first circumnavigation of the world |
| 1893 | New Zealand becomes the first country to give women the vote |
| 1945 | The United Nations founded, October 24 |
| 1961 | Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space, April 12 |
| 1969 | Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the Moon, July 20 |
| 1989–91 | The Berlin Wall falls; the Soviet Union dissolves, December 26, 1991 |
| 2011 | South Sudan, the newest widely recognized state |
| 2050 | Projected world population about 9.7 billion; a peak near 10.3 billion in the 2080s (UN, medium variant) |
Frequently asked questions
How many countries are there in the world?
The United Nations has 193 member states and two observer states, the Holy See and Palestine — the count most references use, 195. A handful of other territories are recognized by some countries but not by the UN, such as Kosovo and Taiwan, which is why totals in different sources range from 193 to about 200.
What is the population of the world?
About 8.3 billion people in 2026, by the UN’s World Population Prospects. India is the most populous country at about 1.46 billion, ahead of China at about 1.41 billion; the two together hold roughly a third of humanity. The UN projects about 9.7 billion people by 2050 and a peak near 10.3 billion in the 2080s.
What are the highest and lowest points on Earth?
Mount Everest, 8,848.86 m (29,032 ft), on the Nepal–China border, is the highest point above sea level; the shore of the Dead Sea, about 430 m (1,410 ft) below sea level and falling each year, is the lowest exposed land. The deepest point of all is the Challenger Deep in the Pacific’s Mariana Trench, about 10,935 m (35,876 ft) down, though surveys differ by a few dozen meters.
What is the longest river in the world?
By the traditional count the Nile, about 6,650 km (4,130 mi) from its remotest source to the Mediterranean. Some researchers measure the Amazon at 6,400 km or more and, including its tidal estuary, longer than the Nile; a 2009 peer-reviewed study found the Nile longer. The Amazon carries far more water than any other river.
Which country is the largest, and which the smallest?
Russia, at about 17.1 million km² (6.6 million sq mi), covers more than a tenth of the world’s land; Vatican City, at 0.44 km² (0.17 sq mi), is the smallest independent state. By population the extremes are India and Vatican City again, whose residents number in the hundreds.
How big is the world economy?
About US$118 trillion in 2025 by the IMF’s April 2026 estimates — roughly US$14,000 per person. The United States is the largest economy at about US$30.8 trillion, China second at about US$19.6 trillion; Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom follow, with India sixth at about US$3.9 trillion.
World knowledge, A to Z — the flags of every country, the sciences, places, people and more.
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