Comparing Populations: China, US, Europe

Since the US and China have both recently (2010) conducted a census I thought it would be interesting to look at some of the population results. Given the vastness of the US and China, I thought I'd do a little experiment and compare Chinese province populations with US states and European countries. I've put this data into a spreadsheet as well and also produced a map graphic comparing various areas. The purpose here is to highlight the large populations of so many Chinese provinces.

Some interesting nuggets from the data...

• Guangdong province in China now has a population of 104 million, which is more than any European nation except Russia (141 million). The European part of Russia has 110 million. 
• Poland, Shanxi province and California all have around 37 million people. 
• Shanghai has 22 million compared to Romania at 23 million. 
• Beijing and New York state both have about 19.5 million people. 
• In total, ten Chinese provinces have a population of 50 million or more. The US and China have a very similar land area. 
• Be honest, did you know that Anhui province has about the same population as Italy (60 million)?

Finally, some non-Chinese comparisons. Greece and Ohio both have a population of about 11.5 million and Michigan and Belarus are similar at about 9.5 million. Wisconsin and Denmark both have about 5.7 million people, and Finland and Minnesota have about 5.4 million. At the lower end of the scale, North Dakota and Montenegro both have about 670,000 people.

United States Census 2010

The 2010 US Census was conducted in April 2010 and already the results are looking very interesting. By the end of 2010 there was a new total population figure for the US, indicating a growth of 9.7% between 2000 and 2010. The total population on the twenty third US Census day was 308,745,538. This is just over double the total population from 1950. For a more up to date population estimate, you can check the US population clock from the US Census Bureau. Because I'm interested in all this, I've produce a graphic which shows population density and some population data for the lower 48 states, at county level. A couple of nuggets here: Los Angeles county has nearly 10 million people and Loving County (Texas) has only 82 people. All other counties lie somewhere in between...