Fastest Declining Countries | Check Population

A growing number of countries face population decline driven by persistently low fertility rates, aging populations, and emigration. This trend is most pronounced in Eastern Europe, East Asia, and Southern Europe, where birth rates have fallen well below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman. Population decline poses significant economic challenges: shrinking workforces, rising dependency ratios, and increased pressure on pension and healthcare systems. The countries listed below are projected to experience the steepest population decreases between 2024 and 2050. Addressing demographic decline requires innovative policies in immigration, family support, and economic restructuring.

#	Country	Pop. 2024	Pop. 2050	Change
1	Kosovo Europe	1,594,353	482,340	-69.7%
2	Republic of Moldova Europe	2,402,306	1,457,801	-39.3%
3	Albania Europe	2,377,128	1,697,820	-28.6%
4	Latvia Europe	1,866,124	1,521,698	-18.5%
5	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines North America	100,616	86,414	-14.1%
6	Bosnia and Herzegovina Europe	3,164,253	2,744,029	-13.3%
7	Serbia Europe	6,586,476	5,837,600	-11.4%
8	Sri Lanka Asia	21,916,000	19,446,052	-11.3%
9	United States Virgin Islands North America	104,377	93,313	-10.6%
10	Belarus Europe	9,132,629	8,195,193	-10.3%
11	Japan Asia	123,975,371	112,788,849	-9%
12	Georgia Asia	3,699,557	3,370,201	-8.9%
13	Tonga Oceania	104,175	95,424	-8.4%
14	Cuba North America	10,979,783	10,143,701	-7.6%
15	Poland Europe	36,559,233	33,886,763	-7.3%
16	Hungary Europe	9,562,065	8,931,364	-6.6%
17	Mauritius Africa	1,245,779	1,185,174	-4.9%
18	Russian Federation Europe	143,533,851	137,339,757	-4.3%
19	North Macedonia Europe	1,824,359	1,750,985	-4%
20	China, Hong Kong SAR Asia	7,524,100	7,268,572	-3.4%
21	Nepal Asia	29,651,054	28,722,220	-3.1%
22	China Asia	1,408,975,000	1,371,883,856	-2.6%
23	Slovakia Europe	5,422,069	5,321,809	-1.8%
24	Bulgaria Europe	6,441,421	6,330,273	-1.7%
25	Italy Europe	58,952,704	58,273,910	-1.2%
26	Thailand Asia	71,668,011	70,926,053	-1%
27	Uruguay South America	3,386,588	3,354,395	-1%
28	Romania Europe	19,051,804	18,852,274	-1%
29	Jamaica North America	2,839,175	2,825,968	-0.5%
30	Greece Europe	10,405,134	10,357,210	-0.5%
31	Puerto Rico North America	3,203,295	3,192,545	-0.3%
32	Montenegro Europe	623,525	623,438	0%
33	Barbados North America	282,467	285,320	1%
34	Trinidad and Tobago North America	1,368,333	1,386,282	1.3%
35	Republic of Korea Asia	51,751,065	52,590,851	1.6%
36	Grenada North America	117,207	119,969	2.4%
37	Estonia Europe	1,372,341	1,417,602	3.3%
38	Croatia Europe	3,866,200	4,009,964	3.7%
39	Iceland Europe	386,506	405,213	4.8%
40	Turkiye Asia	85,518,661	89,798,102	5%
41	French Polynesia Oceania	281,807	297,141	5.4%
42	Saint Lucia North America	179,744	189,971	5.7%
43	France Europe	68,551,653	72,551,045	5.8%
44	Germany Europe	83,516,593	88,637,091	6.1%
45	Dem. People's Republic of Korea Asia	26,498,823	28,304,867	6.8%
46	Sweden Europe	10,569,709	11,311,419	7%
47	Slovenia Europe	2,127,400	2,283,226	7.3%
48	Ukraine Europe	37,860,221	40,724,099	7.6%
49	Maldives Asia	527,799	568,404	7.7%
50	Argentina South America	45,696,159	49,246,324	7.8%
51	Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) South America	28,405,543	30,767,533	8.3%
52	Czechia Europe	10,905,028	11,830,499	8.5%
53	Brazil South America	211,998,573	231,430,711	9.2%
54	El Salvador North America	6,338,193	6,988,662	10.3%
55	Bahamas North America	401,283	443,285	10.5%
56	Micronesia (Fed. States of) Oceania	113,160	125,251	10.7%
57	Azerbaijan Asia	10,202,830	11,319,062	10.9%
58	Costa Rica North America	5,129,910	5,686,635	10.9%
59	Cabo Verde Africa	524,877	583,067	11.1%
60	Fiji Oceania	928,784	1,034,980	11.4%
61	Austria Europe	9,177,982	10,236,556	11.5%
62	Denmark Europe	5,976,992	6,664,904	11.5%
63	Chile South America	19,764,771	22,199,719	12.3%
64	Lebanon Asia	5,805,962	6,554,200	12.9%
65	Guyana South America	831,087	940,307	13.1%
66	Lithuania Europe	2,888,278	3,273,766	13.3%
67	Aruba North America	107,995	122,700	13.6%
68	Samoa Oceania	218,019	249,487	14.4%
69	Tunisia Africa	12,277,109	14,057,051	14.5%
70	Viet Nam Asia	100,987,686	115,747,313	14.6%
71	Finland Europe	5,619,911	6,457,083	14.9%
72	Netherlands Europe	17,993,485	20,701,456	15%
73	Bhutan Asia	791,524	911,146	15.1%
74	Belgium Europe	11,858,610	13,692,586	15.5%
75	Myanmar Asia	54,500,091	63,048,224	15.7%
76	Bahrain Asia	1,588,670	1,861,424	17.2%
77	Guam Oceania	167,777	197,724	17.8%
78	Sudan Africa	50,448,963	60,070,210	19.1%
79	Indonesia Asia	283,487,931	337,952,241	19.2%
80	Brunei Darussalam Asia	462,721	552,172	19.3%
81	Philippines Asia	115,843,670	138,448,839	19.5%
82	Dominican Republic North America	11,427,557	13,718,132	20%
83	Curacao North America	155,967	187,198	20%
84	Ecuador South America	18,135,478	21,837,910	20.4%
85	Mexico North America	130,861,007	157,575,696	20.4%
86	Suriname South America	634,431	766,801	20.9%
87	India Asia	1,450,935,791	1,758,519,525	21.2%
88	Kuwait Asia	4,897,263	5,946,395	21.4%
89	New Caledonia Oceania	292,639	359,282	22.8%
90	Norway Europe	5,572,279	6,839,976	22.8%
91	Morocco Africa	38,081,173	46,976,028	23.4%
92	United States of America North America	340,110,988	419,876,982	23.5%
93	Cyprus Asia	1,358,282	1,679,734	23.7%
94	Jordan Asia	11,552,876	14,300,111	23.8%
95	Eswatini Africa	1,242,822	1,540,740	24%
96	Spain Europe	48,848,840	60,888,472	24.6%
97	Libya Africa	7,381,023	9,210,261	24.8%
98	Iran (Islamic Republic of) Asia	91,567,738	114,914,867	25.5%
99	United Kingdom Europe	69,226,000	87,121,132	25.9%
100	Colombia South America	52,886,363	66,679,564	26.1%
101	Portugal Europe	10,694,681	13,544,554	26.6%
102	Peru South America	34,217,848	43,321,358	26.6%
103	Lesotho Africa	2,337,423	2,973,715	27.2%
104	Haiti North America	11,772,557	15,100,817	28.3%
105	Timor-Leste Asia	1,400,638	1,804,192	28.8%
106	China, Macao SAR Asia	687,000	889,973	29.5%
107	Bangladesh Asia	173,562,364	225,509,695	29.9%
108	Malaysia Asia	35,557,673	46,259,275	30.1%
109	Cambodia Asia	17,638,801	22,973,804	30.2%
110	Paraguay South America	6,929,153	9,041,300	30.5%
111	Mongolia Asia	3,524,788	4,610,584	30.8%
112	South Africa Africa	64,007,187	83,789,173	30.9%
113	Israel Asia	9,974,400	13,101,026	31.3%
114	Panama North America	4,515,577	5,932,403	31.4%
115	Kazakhstan Asia	20,592,571	27,149,715	31.8%
116	Switzerland Europe	9,005,582	11,929,904	32.5%
117	Seychelles Africa	121,354	160,979	32.7%
118	Nicaragua North America	6,916,140	9,244,524	33.7%
119	Lao People's Democratic Republic Asia	7,769,819	10,411,119	34%
120	Djibouti Africa	1,168,722	1,566,320	34%
121	Bolivia (Plurinational State of) South America	12,413,315	16,682,169	34.4%
122	Algeria Africa	46,814,308	63,269,034	35.1%
123	Belize North America	417,072	568,807	36.4%
124	Kiribati Oceania	134,518	185,356	37.8%
125	Pakistan Asia	251,269,164	347,767,910	38.4%
126	Guatemala North America	18,406,359	25,648,541	39.3%
127	Ireland Europe	5,395,790	7,571,204	40.3%
128	Luxembourg Europe	677,012	950,293	40.4%
129	Botswana Africa	2,521,139	3,584,494	42.2%
130	New Zealand Oceania	5,287,500	7,571,336	43.2%
131	Honduras North America	10,825,703	15,554,738	43.7%
132	Kyrgyzstan Asia	7,221,868	10,422,644	44.3%
133	Egypt Africa	116,538,258	169,191,501	45.2%
134	Turkmenistan Asia	7,494,498	10,921,091	45.7%
135	Zimbabwe Africa	16,634,373	24,394,762	46.7%
136	Papua New Guinea Oceania	10,576,502	15,517,766	46.7%
137	Eritrea Africa	3,535,603	5,275,688	49.2%
138	Ghana Africa	34,427,414	51,517,303	49.6%
139	Comoros Africa	866,628	1,301,488	50.2%
140	Tajikistan Asia	10,590,927	15,991,984	51%
141	Kenya Africa	56,432,944	85,945,281	52.3%
142	Uzbekistan Asia	36,361,859	55,533,060	52.7%
143	Australia Oceania	27,196,812	41,741,598	53.5%
144	Singapore Asia	6,036,860	9,266,654	53.5%
145	Sao Tome and Principe Africa	235,536	362,011	53.7%
146	Nigeria Africa	232,679,478	363,961,104	56.4%
147	Sierra Leone Africa	8,642,022	13,632,758	57.7%
148	Iraq Asia	46,042,015	72,663,254	57.8%
149	Rwanda Africa	14,256,567	22,581,192	58.4%
150	Gabon Africa	2,538,952	4,033,995	58.9%
151	Liberia Africa	5,612,817	8,919,569	58.9%
152	Guinea-Bissau Africa	2,201,352	3,534,134	60.5%
153	Namibia Africa	3,030,131	4,897,851	61.6%
154	Togo Africa	9,515,236	15,394,052	61.8%
155	Burkina Faso Africa	23,548,781	38,135,337	61.9%
156	Vanuatu Oceania	327,777	533,926	62.9%
157	Gambia Africa	2,759,988	4,499,442	63%
158	Armenia Asia	3,033,500	4,977,298	64.1%
159	Senegal Africa	18,501,984	30,441,428	64.5%
160	State of Palestine Asia	5,289,152	8,775,974	65.9%
161	Solomon Islands Oceania	819,198	1,362,283	66.3%
162	Guinea Africa	14,754,785	24,667,964	67.2%
163	Congo Africa	6,332,961	10,593,083	67.3%
164	Equatorial Guinea Africa	1,892,516	3,169,923	67.5%
165	Cote d'Ivoire Africa	31,934,230	53,847,569	68.6%
166	Madagascar Africa	31,964,956	53,888,688	68.6%
167	Benin Africa	14,462,724	24,519,814	69.5%
168	Malawi Africa	21,655,286	37,617,972	73.7%
169	Ethiopia Africa	132,059,767	229,749,642	74%
170	Burundi Africa	14,047,786	24,441,721	74%
171	Cameroon Africa	29,123,744	50,982,154	75.1%
172	Uganda Africa	50,015,092	90,209,038	80.4%
173	Zambia Africa	21,314,956	38,920,106	82.6%
174	Afghanistan Asia	42,647,492	78,281,248	83.6%
175	Malta Europe	568,847	1,051,800	84.9%
176	United Republic of Tanzania Africa	68,560,157	126,852,590	85%
177	Mauritania Africa	5,169,395	9,584,238	85.4%
178	Mozambique Africa	34,631,766	64,698,951	86.8%
179	Mali Africa	24,478,595	45,936,372	87.7%
180	Canada North America	41,288,599	77,827,500	88.5%
181	Yemen Asia	40,583,164	76,820,227	89.3%
182	Angola Africa	37,885,849	72,661,550	91.8%
183	Democratic Republic of the Congo Africa	109,276,265	218,543,121	100%
184	Niger Africa	27,032,412	54,502,451	101.6%
185	Central African Republic Africa	5,330,690	11,023,801	106.8%
186	Somalia Africa	19,009,151	39,984,794	110.3%
187	South Sudan Africa	11,943,408	27,588,798	131%
188	Syrian Arab Republic Asia	24,672,760	63,813,081	158.6%
189	Oman Asia	5,281,538	13,743,837	160.2%
190	Saudi Arabia Asia	35,300,280	94,460,425	167.6%
191	United Arab Emirates Asia	10,986,400	29,718,796	170.5%
192	Chad Africa	20,299,123	58,029,297	185.9%
193	Qatar Asia	2,857,822	13,322,981	366.2%

Fastest Declining Countries (2024–2050)