Treemap · Diagram Design

World population · six continents

Population by continent, mid-2023. Asia holds 4.78 billion people — 59% of everyone alive, and more than the other five continents put together.

World population · six continents Treemap of world population by continent in mid-2023, where cell area is population; Asia holds about 59 percent of the world total and Oceania, at under one percent, is too small to label. Asia 4.78B · 59% of world Africa 1.48B · 18% Europe 0.75B · 9% North America 0.61B · 8% South America 0.43B · 5% i LEGEND AREA = POPULATION · OUR WORLD IN DATA CONTINENTS (UN WPP) · MID-2023 · 8.09B TOTAL · PARTS ROUNDED, MAY NOT SUM Asia · the focal share Other continents · darker is larger i Oceania · 0.05B, 0.6% — too small to label

One cell carries the story

Asia is the focal cell because it is the finding, not because it sorts first. Nearly six of every ten people alive are inside that rectangle.

How to read it

Cells are laid out squarified, largest first, so aspect ratios stay near 1 and areas stay comparable by eye. Among the other five, darker means larger.

What the chart doesn't show

Population, not growth. Africa's cell is under a third of Asia's today, and it is the one adding people fastest — this is one moment, not a direction.

world population · six continents example · diagram design