Living Nations of the World To-Day
The world as it is known to-day comprises six great divisions or parts, namely, Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, and Oceania or Australasia. The most dependable statistics estimate their area and population as follows:
AREA AND POPULATION OF THE EARTH BY CONTINENTS
| Continental Divisions | Area in Square Miles | Inhabitants | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Per Square Mile | |||
| Africa | 11,632,000 | 127,312,000 | 10 | .9 |
| America, N. | 7,146,641 | 136,939,000 | 19 | .1 |
| America, S. | 7,344,508 | 55,444,000 | 7 | .55 |
| Asia | 17,470,282 | 842,100,000 | 48 | .20 |
| Australasia | 3,456,290 | 8,000,000 | 2 | .31 |
| Europe | 3,671,624 | 458,795,000 | 124 | .9 |
| Polar Reg. | 6,970,000 | 300,000 | .04 | |
| Total | 57,691,345 | 1,628,890,000 | 28 | .2 |
POPULATION OF THE EARTH ACCORDING TO RACE
| Race | Location | Number |
|---|---|---|
| Indo-Germanic or Aryan (white) | Europe | 775,000,000 |
| America | ||
| Persia | ||
| India | ||
| Australia | ||
| Mongolian or Turanian (yellow and brown) | Asia | 600,000,000 |
| Semitic (white) | Africa | 65,000,000 |
| Arabia, etc. | ||
| Negro and Bantu (black) | Africa | 130,000,000 |
| Malay and Polynesian (brown) | Australasia | 33,000,000 |
| American Indian, North and South (red and half breeds) | 25,000,000 | |
| Total | 1,628,000,000 |
At the opening of the European war in 1914 the human race was subject to fifty-four independent and five quasi-independent governments. The British Empire and Russia are the largest two, while Monaco with its eight square miles and San Marino with its thirty-eight square miles of territory are the smallest two. The absolute monarchies are Abyssinia, Afghanistan, Morocco, Siam, Oman, and Monaco; the limited monarchies are Albania, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Bhutan, British Empire, Bulgaria, Denmark, German Empire, Greece, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Montenegro, Nepal, Netherlands, Norway, Persia, Roumania, Russia, Servia, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey; the republics are Andorra, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Liberia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Salvador, San Marino, Santo Domingo, Switzerland, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela.
PRINCIPAL LANGUAGES SPOKEN
There are said to be 3,424 spoken languages or dialects in the world, distributed as follows: America, 1,624; Asia, 937; Europe, 587; Africa, 276.
| Languages | Number of Persons Spoken by | Proportion of the Whole | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1801 | 1916 | 1801 | 1916 | |
| English | 20,520,000 | 160,000,000 | 12.7 | 27.3 |
| French | 20,520,000 | 160,000,000 | 12.7 | 27.3 |
| German | 30,320,000 | 130,000,000 | 18.7 | 22.2 |
| Italian | 15,070,000 | 50,000,000 | 9.3 | 8.6 |
| Spanish | 26,190,000 | 50,000,000 | 16.2 | 8.6 |
| Portuguese | 7,480,000 | 25,000,000 | 4.7 | 4.3 |
| Russian | 30,770,000 | 100,000,000 | 19.0 | 17.1 |
| Total | 161,800,000 | 585,000,000 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
RELIGIOUS POPULATION OF THE WORLD BY CONTINENTS
| Religion | Europe | Asia | Africa | North America | South America | Oceania | Total Followers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catholic Churches: | |||||||
| Roman Catholic | 183,760,000 | 5,500,000 | 2,500,000 | 36,700,000 | 36,200,000 | 8,200,000 | 272,860,000 |
| Eastern Catholic | 98,000,000 | 17,200,000 | 3,800,000 | 1,000,000 | ... | ... | 120,000,000 |
| Protestant Churches | 93,000,000 | 6,000,000 | 2,750,000 | 65,000,000 | 400,000 | 4,500,000 | 171,650,000 |
| Total Christians | 374,760,000 | 28,700,000 | 9,050,000 | 102,700,000 | 36,600,000 | 12,700,000 | 564,510,000 |
| Confucianism and Taoism | ... | 300,000,000 | 30,000 | 100,000 | ... | 700,000 | 300,830,000 |
| Hinduism | ... | 210,000,000 | 300,000 | 100,000 | 110,000 | 30,000 | 210,540,000 |
| Mohammedanism | 3,800,000 | 142,000,000 | 51,000,000 | 15,000 | 10,000 | 25,000,000 | 221,825,000 |
| Buddhism | ... | 138,000,000 | 11,000 | ... | ... | 20,000 | 138,031,000 |
| Judaism | 9,950,175 | 484,359 | 404,836 | 2,144,061 | 50,000 | 19,415 | 13,052,846 |
| Animism | ... | 42,000,000 | 98,000,000 | 20,000 | 1,250,000 | 17,000,000 | 158,270,000 |
| Shintoism | ... | 25,000,000 | ... | ... | ... | ... | 25,000,000 |
| Unclassified | 1,000,000 | 6,000,000 | 130,000 | 8,000,000 | ... | 150,000 | 15,280,000 |
| Total Non-Christians | 14,750,175 | 863,484,359 | 149,875,836 | 10,379,061 | 1,420,000 | 42,919,415 | 1,082,828,846 |
Note.—The Coptic Church has 706,322 followers (Egyptian census 1907); Nestorians 80,000; Jacobites 70,000.