Largest Empires by Share of World Population

Source: Wikipedia - List of largest empires

Largest Empires by Share of World Population

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Key Findings

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Qing dynasty leads in Share of world population at peak (%) with 37.

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Average Share of world population at peak (%): 28 · median: 28.

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Gap: Qing dynasty is 1.6× larger than British Empire.

About This Dataset

Largest Empires by Share of World Population

Ruling the most land and ruling the most people are different achievements. This chart ranks empires by the share of the world's population they governed at their peak, expressed as a percentage of everyone alive at that time.

Analysis

The Qing dynasty governed 37% of the world's population in 1800, the largest share any empire has ever held, ahead of the Northern Song dynasty on 33% in 1100. This ranking is very different from the land-area one: empires built on dense agricultural populations appear here, while those that covered vast but thinly populated territory do not. Every empire on this chart ruled at least a fifth of humanity, and the smallest share shown is the British Empire on 23%.

Data Insights Below

Data Insights

Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart

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Data Points

12 categories · 1 year

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Top Value

Qing dynasty

Share of world population at peak (%) · All Time

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Metrics

Share of world population at peak (%)

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Period

All Time

Single year snapshot

Methodology & source

Data source: Wikipedia - List of largest empires
Coverage: 12 entities · 12 observations
Measure: Share of world population at peak (%)
Last updated: 10 September 2026
Compiled by: The ANYSTAT team, from the source above

How the figures are calculated

Values use the measure and unit named on this page. Consult the dataset description and cited source for coverage, definitions and any unit conversions. Displayed values may be rounded for readability.
Entities are ranked highest-first on their value.

Rankings & Full Data

12 records · Share of world population at peak (%) · ranked by All Time

✓ 12 sourced

#	Category	All Time
🥇	Qing dynasty	37
🥈	Northern Song dynasty	33
🥉	Western Han dynasty	32
4	Mongol Empire	31
5	Roman Empire	30
6	Jin dynasty (266-420)	28
7	Ming dynasty	28
8	Qin dynasty	24
9	Mughal Empire	24
10	Tang dynasty	23
11	Delhi Sultanate	23
12	British Empire	23

Data Sources & References

All external sources cited in this dataset

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_empires Visit ↗

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APA

ANYSTAT. (2026). Largest Empires by Share of World Population [Data set]. Data: Wikipedia - List of largest empires. https://anystat.ai/stats/1721/largest-empires-by-share-of-world-population-1788986034

MLA

"Largest Empires by Share of World Population." ANYSTAT, 10 Sep. 2026, https://anystat.ai/stats/1721/largest-empires-by-share-of-world-population-1788986034.

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<a href="https://anystat.ai/stats/1721/largest-empires-by-share-of-world-population-1788986034">Largest Empires by Share of World Population</a> (ANYSTAT)

Largest Empires by Share of World Population