Methodology and data sources
Population.is does not create statistics. It republishes figures from official and open sources, keeps the reference year and source with every number, and labels each as observed, estimated or projected.
How the live estimate works
The world counter starts from the UN World Population Prospects figures for 1 July of the previous, current and next year, and interpolates between them for the current moment.
Births and deaths today are the UN's projected annual totals for the current year divided evenly over the year, counted from 00:00 UTC.
These are model estimates. No organisation counts births and deaths worldwide in real time, so the counter is an illustration of the published projection, not a measurement.
Observed, estimated and projected
- Observed
- Counted or registered values, such as Statistics Iceland population registers on 1 January.
- Estimated
- Values modelled from incomplete data, such as World Bank or UN estimates for past years.
- Projected
- Forward-looking values from the UN medium variant, including the current year.
Cities and municipalities
City figures come from GeoNames and describe the populated place, not the metropolitan area. Icelandic municipalities use Statistics Iceland register figures. Different definitions are never mixed in one ranking without a label.
Sources and last sync
| Source | Licence | Last synced | Rows |
|---|---|---|---|
| GeoNames gazetteer (cities with population above 15,000)GeoNames | CC BY 4.0 | 24 Oct 2026 | 63,534 |
| Population, births, deaths and migration by municipalityStatistics Iceland (Hagstofa Íslands) | CC BY 4.0 | 24 Oct 2026 | 10,583 |
| World Population Prospects 2024United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division | CC BY 3.0 IGO (distributed via Our World in Data) | 24 Oct 2026 | 143,148 |
| World Development IndicatorsWorld Bank | CC BY 4.0 | 24 Oct 2026 | 303,675 |