This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

If Utah were a nation instead of a state, it would rank as the 139th largest by population in the world.

That's according to population estimates released Wednesday by the United Nations for 233 countries and other "major areas."

Utah, with a population of 2.94 million, is larger than 94 of those countries and areas, and is smaller than 138. So its population would rank in the 40th percentile.

Utah would rank between Mongolia, which has 2.96 million people, and Albania, with 2.9 million.

Other countries that have roughly the same population as Utah include: Armenia, 3.01 million; Lithuania, 2.88 million; and Jamaica, 2.79 million.

For the record, the world's largest-population country is China, with 1.38 billion people, followed by India, with 1.31 billion — with the United States in a distant third place with 321.78 million.

The world's smallest country is Vatican City, with 800 residents. It is followed by Tokelau, a territory of New Zealand, with 1,250 residents, and Niue, an island country in the South Pacific, with 1,610 people.

The average population among those 233 countries and major areas is 5.37 million.

— Lee Davidson