Planet People
vii
TOKYO SÃO PAULO MEXICO CITY CAIRO NEW YORK LONDON SYDNEY
38,000,
21,000,000 20,999,
18,770,
18,590,
10,310,
4,500,
1.6 children
per woman
LANGUAGES
These are the 10 most common languages worldwide,
sized in proportion to the number of native speakers.
Chinese outstrips the others because China has such a
huge population. But Spanish comes next because it is
the main language of many Latin American countries,
such as Mexico. English is almost as common, thanks
mainly to being the language of the United States. It is
also used as an international language for trade.
CITY POPULATIONS
As populations grow, people
tend to move from the country
to a city to find work. Today,
one-third of the world’s people
live in cities, which grow bigger
every year. Some are colossal,
like Tokyo—the largest city in
Asia. The other cities shown
here are the most populous
on each continent. They are
vibrant centers of civilization,
but some cities are fringed by
sprawling shantytowns, where
poor people live in makeshift
shacks with no proper services
such as clean water.
RELIGIONS AND BELIEFS
Almost three-quarters of the world’s population are followers of
Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, or Buddhism. But many people follow
other faiths, particularly in China where the traditional folk religion,
Shenism, is practised by nearly one-fifth of the huge population.
The “indigenous” and “African traditional religions” data points are
both groupings of different, but similar, religions. Others are listed
at far right, in order of popularity.
CHINESE
ENGLISH
SPANISH
PORTUGUESE RUSSIAN
JAPANESE
PUNJABI
BENGALIHINDI ARABIC
ONLINE ACCESS
Over the last decades, the Internet has become a vital
tool for global business, education, and politics, so
the more people who can use it, the better. These
charts show the percentage of people with Internet
access both worldwide and in particular regions.
Australia, North America, and Europe lead the field,
but the number of Internet users is growing fastest
in the Middle East and Africa.
AFRICA 29% EUROPE 74% SOUTH AMERICA 67% MIDDLE EAST 57%
WORLDWIDE 50%
ASIA 46% CENTRAL AMERICA 53%
AUSTRALIA 92% NORTH AMERICA 89%
% of population
using the
Internet
% of population
not using the
Internet
Others
Sikhism 23 million
Juche 19 million
Spiritism 15 million
Judaism 14 million
Baha’i 7 million
Jainism 4.2 million
Shinto 4 million
Cao Ðái 4 million
Zoroastrianism 2.6 million
Tenrikyo 2 million
Neo-Paganism 1 million
Unitarian
Universalism 800,
Rastafarianism 600,
Scientology 500,
Christianity
2.2 billion
Others
97.7 million
African
traditional
100 million
Indigenous
300 million
Buddhism
487 million Chinese
traditional
300 million
Islam
1.6 billion
Hinduism
1 billion
US_vi_vii_Planet_people.indd 7 19/04/17 2:17 pm