Population figures often sound like dull statistics—until they reveal just how weird, wild, and wildly disproportionate our world really is. What if we told you that a single brothel in Amsterdam served more people than live in Iceland? Or that more people live in Chinese cave homes than in all of Canada? This collection of 50 jaw-dropping population stats dives into the absurd, the tragic, and the downright unbelievable—from ancient cities that rivaled modern metropolises to entire nations nearly erased by war or famine. Whether it’s millions cheering at a Moscow rock concert or a town of just two in Greenland, these stories prove one thing: when it comes to population, the numbers don’t just count—they tell unforgettable tales.
1 Irish Descent in the U.S.
According to the 2010 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, over 36 million people of Irish descent live in the United States, which is six times more than Ireland’s population.
2. Louise and Martine Fokkens, Amsterdam’s oldest sex workers, retired in 2016 after serving approximately 355,000 men, which was more than Iceland’s population at that time.
3. In 1847, Toronto, with a population of just 20,000, welcomed 38,560 Irish famine victims.
4. São Paulo, Brazil, is the largest Portuguese-speaking city globally and has a larger Italian population than any city in Italy, as well as the largest Japanese population outside Japan.
5. After first contact, 90% of the native population of the Americas perished, marking the largest mass death in history. That was 10% of the global population dying in just a few years.
6 Ancient Rome’s Population Milestone
Ancient Rome attained a population of one million, a feat not duplicated by any other European capital until early 1800s London.
7. During the Middle Ages, Rome’s population plummeted from one million in 330 A.D. to 20,000 by 650 A.D., which roughly remained the same until around 1600 A.D.
8. Humans nearly faced extinction at least three times, with the global population possibly dwindling to as low as 600. One such bottleneck occurred around 70,000 years ago, likely due to the Toba supervolcano eruption, which drastically reduced genetic diversity in modern humans.
9. During the Holocaust, 99% of Jewish children in Poland perished, leaving only 5,000 survivors from a pre-war population of one million.
10. Paris boasts over 44,000 restaurants, equating to 48 residents per restaurant, with a population of approximately 2.14 million.
11 Japanese Weddings Favor Christianity
Although Christians make up only 1.5% of Japan’s population, most Japanese weddings are Christian ceremonies. In contrast, traditional Shinto ceremonies account for just one in six weddings.
12. Over 108 billion people have lived on Earth, and today’s population of 7.5 billion represents about 7% of all humans who have ever existed.
13. Miracle Village is a small town in Florida that has a population of around 200 people, and over half are registered sex offenders. Established as a haven for sex offenders who struggle to find housing due to strict residency laws, the village is located in a remote area of Palm Beach County.
14. American Samoa, with a population under 60,000, boasts the highest military enlistment rate among U.S. states and territories. In 2014 and 2015, the Army recruitment station in Pago Pago ranked first out of 885 nationwide.
15. More people live in China’s cave dwellings, known as Yaodong, than the entire population of Canada. An estimated 35 to 40 million people reside in these energy-efficient underground homes, primarily in the Loess Plateau region.
16 Merv’s Rise and Fall
In the 12th and 13th centuries, Merv in Turkmenistan was the world’s largest city, with over 500,000 residents, until the Mongols decimated it in 1221. At its peak, Merv’s population rivaled that of modern metropolises.
17. In 2016, 12% of Iceland’s population traveled to France to support their national football team during the Euro Championships.
18. Approximately 65% of the world’s population is lactose intolerant, unable to digest lactose properly.
19. In 1837, nearly all adult men on the Micronesian island of Ngatik (now Sapwuahfik) were killed by Australian traders and Pohnpeian warriors during a raid to seize valuable tortoiseshell. The island was later repopulated by the attackers and local women, leading to the development of Ngatik Men’s Creole-a unique English-Pohnpeian hybrid language still spoken today.
20. One of the largest concerts ever, featuring AC/DC, Pantera, Metallica, and The Black Crowes, drew a staggering 1.6 million attendees-slightly more than Philadelphia’s population. The free concert, held in 1991 at Tushino Airfield in Moscow, marked a cultural turning point in post-Soviet Russia, drawing a crowd larger than most cities.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
21 Qatar’s Citizenship Percentage
In Qatar, only 12% of the 2.6 million people hold Qatari citizenship. Consequently, expatriates and migrant laborers, mainly from South Asia, make up the remaining 88% of the population.
22. Researchers have discovered that just 3.5% of a country’s population participating in sustained nonviolent civil disobedience can effectively topple a totalitarian government.
23. While the bald eagle is a national symbol of the United States, the American bison holds the title of national mammal. The bison population, once over 60 million, plummeted to fewer than 600 by 1889. However, due to successful conservation efforts, it has rebounded to 500,000 and continues to grow.
24. Since London’s population exceeds the maximum number of hairs possible on a human head, the pigeonhole principle dictates that at least two people in London must have the same number of hairs on their heads.
25. Ireland’s population has not yet recovered from the Great Famine of 1845-1852. Before the famine, the population stood at 8 million, whereas today it is only 5.3 million.
RE: Fact #26 (Tiny Town of Hum, Croatia) – I went to a rave in Croatia once, it was amazing watching the sunrise.
Wow, they have raves there, too?! I thought Hum people were all about the old-timey stuff, but it’s way more exciting than I imagined!
RE: Fact #36 (Roman Republic’s Heavy Losses in War) – One-fifth? That’s a serious cut!
RE: Fact #39 (Devastating War on Paraguay) – One country doing that? Their fault. But if three others jump in at the same time… yeah, Paraguay probably messed up.
RE: Fact #37 (Marshallese Community in Springdale, Arkansas) – The Marshall Islands have a sweet deal with the US – their people can live and work here visa-free. They were part of a US territory after WWII, along with Palau and Micronesia. And guess what? They even use US zip codes.
RE: Fact #50 (Madagascar’s Ancestral Origins) – Pretty much everyone there speaks an Austronesian language.
Seems like the most likely story is that Madagascar was settled around 1200 years ago by a tiny group of mostly Indonesian women. This small group means it probably wasn’t a big, planned move from Indonesia, more like a small, maybe accidental, trip across the ocean.
This backs up the idea of a Polynesian-Indonesian link, and the DNA evidence seems to agree.
RE: Fact #21 (Qatar’s Citizenship Percentage) – Lots of those people called “expats” are actually Qatari-born, even second or third generation. And they’ll never become citizens.
RE: Fact #9 (Holocaust’s Impact on Polish Jews) – It’s easy to overlook how effective the Holocaust actually was. Most Jews now live in Israel, the US, and Canada, not Europe. Think about it – a huge change from before the war.
RE: Fact #12 (Earth’s Population Milestone) – Half of all the people who ever lived died from mosquito bites.
RE: Fact #27 (Pitcairn Islands’ Scandal) – The island only had 59 people back then.
RE: Fact #20 (Moscow’s Massive Concert) – It was the first American metal concert since the Cold War, and these folks had only ever heard the music on dodgy, smuggled tapes.
RE: Fact #16 (Merv’s Rise and Fall) – Historians are all over the map on this one. Most think the death toll was way overblown—some say only 1.2 million died. It was probably a massacre, but not nearly as big as people say.
RE: Fact #31 (British Expulsion of Diego Garcia) – Back in 2000, the British High Court said the islanders could go back to the Archipelago.
Great! That was something, anyway.
Then in 2002, about 4,500 islanders and their kids went back to court wanting money, saying the British Foreign Office had stalled for two years.
Yeah! I hope they got it!
But then, in June 2004, the British government just *banned* them from returning—permanently! They ignored the 2000 court decision.
Seriously? What the heck?!
A bunch of other Chagossians are still trying to get homes in the UK.
That’s awful.
In 2007, the UK government lost an appeal of a 2006 High Court ruling.
They appealed it?! Seriously? Okay, at least they lost the appeal. Is this finally over?
And they went to the House of Lords!
Come on! In 2008, the UK government *won* that appeal, overturning the 2006 ruling and keeping the islanders out.
Britain, what the heck?! That’s terrible!
RE: Fact #39 (Devastating War on Paraguay) – Paraguay’s president, Solano Lopez, really wanted access to the ocean, so he started a war—against *three* countries at once! It was a bad idea from the start; he only won a few early battles because he totally surprised Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. Even after his army was crushed, his capital was taken, and he was clearly defeated, Solano refused to give up. He launched a brutal guerrilla war, even using kids as soldiers. That’s when most Paraguayan civilians died. Brazil’s Emperor Pedro II wouldn’t settle for anything less than Solano’s capture or death, and his stubbornness made the war last way longer than it should have. Brazil’s top general, Caxias, the guy who won the war for them, wouldn’t fight a guerrilla war against civilians, so he just retired.
RE: Fact #30 (Moriusaq’s Population Drop) –
So, the acting chief… is it just some other guy from around here? Man, losing one person really messes things up. And who’s filling in for the lawyer? “Usually Gregg, but I shot him, so I guess we’ll share his work.”
RE: Fact #21 (Qatar’s Citizenship Percentage) – Enslaved people
RE: Fact #10 (Paris Restaurant Density) – Leaving out the 44 million yearly tourists
RE: Fact #7 (Rome’s Medieval Population Decline) – Wow, this is mind-blowing! I never knew that. It makes me want to spend an hour just thinking about what it must have been like back then.
RE: Fact #44 (Hong Kong Resettlement Plan Considered) – Chinatown’s on Craggy Island?!
RE: Fact #43 (New York City’s Population Boom) – That’s almost half the population of London back then.
RE: Fact #15 (China’s Cave Dwellers Outnumber Canada) – Canadians are starting to think about living underground!
Rent for a two-bedroom place outside Toronto is insane!
RE: Fact #43 (New York City’s Population Boom) – I’m curious how much of that increase was from more people moving in, and how much was from Brooklyn and the other boroughs joining together as NYC. The article doesn’t mention it.
RE: Fact #19 (Ngatik Massacre’s Lingering Impact) – After the massacre, some of Hart’s crew and some Pohnpeians rebuilt the island, marrying local widows. They even created a whole new language, Ngatik Men’s Creole – a mix of English and the Ponapean dialect. The name’s a bit misleading, though. It’s mainly spoken by the men, especially when they’re fishing or building boats, but the women and kids understand it perfectly, even if they don’t use it much. It’s still spoken today, almost 200 years later, by around 500 people on the atoll and another 200 on Pohnpei.
RE: Fact #32 (Supai Village: Grand Canyon’s Hidden Gem) – Been there, it’s gorgeous! Waterfalls, caves, and the clearest blue water you’ve ever seen in that canyon. I was surprised how close it is—a short hike gets you there.
RE: Fact #5 (Native American Population Decline) – Disease wiped out most of the population. That’s also why there might be real “lost cities” in the Amazon – their people were already dying off before most Europeans even showed up.
It’s crazy to think the Incas believed disease was a spirit attack. Then the Spanish rolled in, talking about their God who’s supposedly even more powerful, and would wipe out the Incas’ enemies. The massive death toll from disease, along with guns and the whole psychological impact, made conquering the New World super easy for the Spanish. A huge chunk of the gold and silver they took ended up in Asia, buying spices and stuff, which fueled further European expansion. It’s wild to think how different things would be if disease hadn’t hit the Americas so hard.
RE: Fact #7 (Rome’s Medieval Population Decline) – I bet the folks who lived there had some strong feelings about the empire, huh?
RE: Fact #46 (1925 KKK Membership Peak) – A huge rally, like seriously huge, happened in northern New Jersey back in the late 20s or early 30s. I think there were around 30,000 people there, maybe even more!