This chart shows the countries with the highest death rates in 2023, visualized by the number of deaths every hour.

Data is sourced from the latest UN Population Prospects.

• India and China’s high birth rates are dogged by an equally high death rate.

• More than one-third of global deaths every hour occur in one of the two Asian giants.

• And for China, more people are now dying than being born, signalling that an immense population decline is on the horizon.

• In fact, estimates put China’s population at 525 million by 2100, or about half of what it is now.