International Programs

International Data Base

Current Release Notes: June 2012

The release of the IDB contains revised estimates and projections for 30 countries or areas incorporating new data or analysis. For general information about how these estimates and projections are developed, see Population Estimates and Projections Methodology. All projections have been produced by sex and single years of age up to 100 years and over.

• Algeria
• American Samoa
• Belarus
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Brazil
• Chile
• Ethiopia*
• France
• Ghana*
• Guam
• Indonesia
• Kyrgyzstan
• Libya
• Madagascar
• Mali
• Niger
• Northern Mariana Islands
• Puerto Rico
• Russia
• South Sudan
• Sudan
• Switzerland
• Taiwan
• Tanzania*
• Timor-Leste
• Uganda*
• United States
• Vanuatu
• Virgin Islands, U.S.
• Zambia*

* Denotes that a country has undergone additional analyses to update the estimated effects of HIV/AIDS. See Population Estimates and Projections Incorporating AIDS.

One new country is being added to the International Data Base with this update – South Sudan. South Sudan achieved full independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011.

The 2012 population of France now includes the population of Mayotte; formerly estimated as a separate nation and now an overseas department of France as of March 31, 2011.

Below is a brief summary of revisions for countries experiencing more than a 500,000 change from the previously estimated 2012 population.

The estimated 2012 population of Algeria is 2 million (5.5 percent) higher than our previous estimate. This increase is largely due to higher estimates of fertility in recent years.

The population of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2012 is estimated to be 743 thousand (16.1 percent) lower than in the previous update. This decrease is due primarily to higher estimated mortality in the 1990s and lower estimates of in-migration through 2009.

The estimated 2012 population of Brazil is 6.4 million (3.1 percent) lower than our previous estimate. The lower estimate is due to a downward revision in fertility in most years since the 1970s as well as increased estimates of out-migration in recent decades.

The population of Ethiopia in 2012 is estimated to be 2.6 million (2.8 percent) lower than the previous update. This decline is primarily due to a reassessment of the size of the population of Ethiopia at the time of its first census, in 1984, exclusive of Eritrea and Assab Administration

The population of Libya in 2012 is estimated to be 1.1 million (16.7 percent) lower than in our previous update, largely because of the displacement of population into neighboring countries in 2011 associated with the country's civil war.

The estimated 2012 population of Madagascar is 581 thousand (2.6 percent) lower than the previous update. This decline is primarily due to downward adjustments to estimated fertility levels during the past decade.

The estimated 2012 population of Mali is 960 thousand (6.6 percent) higher than in the previous update. This increase is primarily due to a reduction in estimated numbers of out-migrants over the previous 25 years.

The population of Niger in 2012 is estimated to be 734 thousand (4.3 percent) lower than the previous update. This decline is primarily due to higher estimates of out-migration and slightly lower fertility assumptions.

The estimated 2012 population of Russia is 4.4 million (3.2 percent) higher than in the previous update due mainly to considerably higher estimates of migration and lower estimates of mortality.

Sudan's population in 2012 is estimated to be 11.8 million (25.6 percent) lower than in the previous update, primarily due to the attainment of independence by South Sudan.

Tanzania's population in 2012 is estimated to be 3.3 million (7.1 percent) higher than in the previous update mainly due to upward adjustments to fertility and downward adjustments to estimated mortality.

The estimated 2012 population of Uganda is 2.2 million (6.2 percent) lower than in the previous update primarily due to a downward adjustment to estimated fertility.

Release notes history