Which countries' large populations surprise you?

[Blue3]

Which countries' large populations surprise you?

For example, despite most Central American countries having about 5 million people, and being about the same size as the others, here comes Guatemala at nearly 20 million.

Philippines, Ecuador, Colombia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Vietnam, and somewhat Mexico and Papua New Guinea surprise me too.

[DINGO Joe]

Ethiopia, Nepal, Haiti and D.R. and actually Poland, thought it was about half that size

[Ancestral Republican]

The world is going to be so f***ed by 2100. Almost double the population with the vast majority of growth on an impoverished continent with already rapid desertification which will be horribly exacerbated with climate change. Awful.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Almost double the population.

That definitely isn't happening.

[Battista Minola 1616]

I'm surprised that South Africa has less people than Italy, actually.
Colombia being larger than Argentina is also shocking.

[Tartarus Sauce]

Almost double the population.

That definitely isn't happening.

Correct, if current estimates on population trajectories are to be believed, most models indicate that population growth will plateau before we ever manage to break 11 billion people worldwide.

[buritobr]

Colombia has population density more similar to European and Asian countries, the other South American countries have very low population densities.
Brazilian population is 210M. Even if the area of the Amazon Forest was kept empty, but the non-Amazon area had European or Asian density, Brazil would have 400M inhabitants.
Argentina has population similar to Spain, ~45M. It is possible to put 5 Spains inside Argentina.
Uruguay has half of the Germany's area. Germany has 82M inhabitants, Uruguay has 3.6M.

[TDAS04]

Burma, Uzbekistan, and Romania.

I'm also a bit surprised by how small Panama's population is.

[Saruku]

The world is going to be so f***ed by 2100. Almost double the population with the vast majority of growth on an impoverished continent with already rapid desertification which will be horribly exacerbated with climate change. Awful.

You're better than this.

Overpopulation is mostly a myth, probably designed to shift blame from overconsumption in the imperial core onto an Other. That can devolve into eugenics and the like very quickly.

[John Dule]

The fact that there are more people on Java than in all of Russia is pretty amazing.

[Ancestral Republican]

The world is going to be so f***ed by 2100. Almost double the population with the vast majority of growth on an impoverished continent with already rapid desertification which will be horribly exacerbated with climate change. Awful.

You're better than this.

Overpopulation is mostly a myth, probably designed to shift blame from overconsumption in the imperial core onto an Other. That can devolve into eugenics and the like very quickly.

Yes, but I don't blame Africans at all. The west has been stealing their resources for generations and causing endless bloodshed. They will be the ones who suffer the most for the problems we have caused.

[TDAS04]

Two countries that receive little attention relative to their population: Indonesia, Bangladesh

Two countries that get lots of attention, or have disproportionate influence, for their population: Iceland, Qatar

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Colombia, Peru, Angola, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Sudan, Turkey, Mozambique, Pakistan and Indonesia

[LAKISYLVANIA]

The world is going to be so f***ed by 2100. Almost double the population with the vast majority of growth on an impoverished continent with already rapid desertification which will be horribly exacerbated with climate change. Awful.

The Sahel (esp. western Sahel) is getting greener due to climate change (like warmer meditterranean areas while tropics stay the same) and due to agriculture/reforestation which spreads the greening.

Amazon is getting drier cuz of it tho (like southern europe, parts of Australia and southwestern USA). And it strengthens Cape Verde type hurricanes. Horn of Africa and South Africa are getting drier)

[Samof94]

Ecuador has more people than the state of Illinois.

[CumbrianLefty]

Ethiopia and Vietnam stand out for me on this metric.

[Del Tachi]

I always forget Ethiopia is part of the >100M club

[Saruku]

Anyway, none of the top 40 or so are surprising so long as you have a basic knowledge of the world's physical geography.

[jaymichaud]

Egypt, Vietnam, Argentina, Mexico, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa.

[Hope For A New Era]

Not a country, but Ohio's large population always seemed odd to me.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

China followed by India, it's no wonder why they were taking up American economics, due to fact both India and China have so many people to overpopulate the World

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Possibly Nepal - i always envision it as a sparsely populated Himalayan state, which really isn't the case.

[Former President tack50]

Anyway, none of the top 40 or so are surprising so long as you have a basic knowledge of the world's physical geography.

Considering that Africa is 50% uninhabitable desert and much of the other 50% is jungles and very hard terrain, any African country (let alone most of them!) having such high populations is always going to be surprising to me.

[Storr]

Egypt, Vietnam, Argentina, Mexico, Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa.

Relevantly, Egypt and Vietnam will be the newest members of the 100 million club. According to the UN, Egypt actually reached that milestone in 2019. Vietnam should get there around 2024-25 with its current growth of ~1 million people per year.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

The fact that there are more people on Java than in all of Russia is pretty amazing.

Muh rice economy. Rice as a staple can support an incredible level of population density compared to wheat.

As to the OP's question, Ethiopia and (I knew this but when I first looked it up) Vietnam.