India is the most populous country in the world with one-sixth of the world's population. According to UN estimates, India overtook China in having the largest population in the world with a population of 1,425,775,850 at the end of April 2023.
India was one of the richest countries in the world, for about two and a half millennia starting around the end of 1st millennium BC and ending around the beginning of British rule in India.
The study of the economies of the ancient city-state of Rome and its empire during the Republican and Imperial periods remains highly speculative. There are no surviving records of business and government accounts, such as detailed reports of tax revenues, and few literary sources regarding economic activity. Instead, the study of this ancient economy is today mainly based on the surviving archeological and literary evidence that allow researchers to form conjectures based on comparisons with other more recent pre-industrial economies.
This is the Economic history of the Indian subcontinent. It includes the economic timeline of the region, from the ancient era to the present, and briefly summarizes the data presented in the Economic history of India and List of regions by past GDP (PPP) articles.
The World Economy: Historical Statistics is a landmark book by Angus Maddison. Published in 2004 by the OECD Development Centre, it studies the growth of populations and economies across the centuries: not just the world economy as it is now, but how it was in the past.
This article lists current estimates of the world population in history. In summary, estimates for the progression of world population since the Late Middle Ages are in the following ranges:
Angus Maddison was a distinguished British economist specialising in quantitative macro economic history, including the measurement and analysis of economic growth and development.
Demographic history is the reconstructed record of human population in the past. Given the lack of population records prior to the 1950s, there are many gaps in our record of demographic history. Historical demographers must make do with estimates, models and extrapolations. For the demographic methodology, see historical demography.
The continent of Asia covers 29.4% of the Earth's land area and has a population of around 4.75 billion, accounting for about 60% of the world population. The combined population of both China and India are estimated to be over 2.8 billion people as of 2022. Asia's population is projected to grow to 5.25 billion by 2055, or about 54% of projected world population at that time. Population growth in Asia was close to 0.55% p.a. as of 2022, with highly disparate rates. Many Western Asian and South Asian countries have growth rates above world average, notably Pakistan at 2% p.a., while China had a small decrease of -0.06% and India had a 0.6% increase in 2022.
The economic history of the world encompasses the development of human economic activity throughout time. It has been estimated that throughout prehistory, the world average GDP per capita was about $158 per annum, and did not rise much until the Industrial Revolution. Cattle were probably the first object or physical thing specifically used in a way similar enough to the modern definition of money, that is, as a medium for exchange.
Papyrus evidence from Roman Egypt suggests like other more recent and thus better documented pre-modern societies, the Roman Empire experienced high infant mortality, a low marriage age, and high fertility within marriage. Perhaps half of the Roman subjects died by the age of 10. Of those still alive at age 10, half would die by the age of 50.
The 0s began on January 1, AD 1 and ended on December 31, AD 9, covering the first nine years of the Common Era. It is one of two "0-to-9" decade-like timespans that contain nine years, along with the 0s BC.
The population history of China covers the long-term pattern of population growth in China and its impact on the history of China. The population went through many cycles that generally reached peaks along each imperial power and was decimated due to wars and barbarian invasions. The census data shows that the population as percentage share of the world has a long-term average of 26%, with 6% standard deviation. The minimum could be as low as 16% while the maximum as high as 33%. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, the percentage share has been trending down. This was caused by two opposite factors: On one hand, the world population has been growing explosively. On the other hand, in order to address the poverty issue, China implemented a strict birth control policy. For recent trends see demographics of China and China.
