Cairo, in Egypt, ranked as the most populated city in Africa as of 2025, with an estimated population of over 23 million inhabitants living in Greater Cairo. Kinshasa, in Congo, and Lagos, in Nigeria, followed with some 17.8 million and 17.2 million, respectively. Among the 15 largest cities in the continent, another one, Kano, was located in Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa. Population density trends in Africa As of 2023, Africa exhibited a population density of 50.1 individuals per square kilometer. Since 2000, the population density across the continent has been experiencing a consistent annual increment. Projections indicated that the average population residing within each square kilometer would rise to approximately 58.5 by the year 2030. Moreover, Mauritius stood out as the African nation with the most elevated population density, exceeding 627 individuals per square kilometre. Mauritius possesses one of the most compact territories on the continent, a factor that significantly influences its high population density. Urbanization dynamics in Africa The urbanization rate in Africa was anticipated to reach close to 45.5 percent in 2024. Urbanization across the continent has consistently risen since 2000, with urban areas accommodating only around a third of the total population then. This trajectory is projected to continue its rise in the years ahead. Nevertheless, the distribution between rural and urban populations shows remarkable diversity throughout the continent. In 2024, Gabon and Libya stood out as Africa’s most urbanized nations, each surpassing 80 percent urbanization. As of the same year, Africa's population was estimated to expand by 2.27 percent compared to the preceding year. Since 2000, the population growth rate across the continent has consistently exceeded 2.3 percent, reaching its pinnacle at 2.63 percent in 2013. Although the growth rate has experienced a deceleration, Africa's population will persistently grow significantly in the forthcoming years.

An estimated number of around 689 million people in Africa live in urban areas as of 2024. The urban population on the continent has been growing annually. Among the African countries, Gabon, Libya, and Djibouti have the highest urbanization rate.

Africa: Population in the largest city (% of urban population)

  Dataset summary

This dataset provides values for "Population in the largest city (% of urban population)" across African countries, standardized and made ML-ready. Geographic scope: 54 African countries. Temporal coverage: 1960–2024 (annual). Units: As defined by the World Bank indicator.

  Source & licensing

Source: World Bank – World Development Indicators (WDI), Indicator code:… See the full description on the dataset page: https://huggingface.co/datasets/electricsheepafrica/Population-in-the-largest-city-percentage-of-urban-population-africa.

This dataset is about cities in South Africa. It has 198 rows. It features 3 columns: country, and population.

As of 2022, Cairo was the most populated city in the North African region with over *** million inhabitants. It was followed by Alexandria and Casablanca, with *** million and *** million people, respectively. Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa.

Central African Republic CF: Population in Largest City data was reported at 985,965.000 Person in 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 958,335.000 Person for 2023. Central African Republic CF: Population in Largest City data is updated yearly, averaging 487,345.000 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2024, with 65 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 985,965.000 Person in 2024 and a record low of 94,350.000 Person in 1960. Central African Republic CF: Population in Largest City data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Central African Republic – Table CF.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the urban population living in the country's largest metropolitan area.;United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.;;

This map presents layers derived from Africapolis.org and NASA's Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) hosted by Columbia University.Africapolis data consists of urban populations from 1950 through 2015 and percentage of the population that is urban (the urban level). SEDAC data represents population density at local scales for the continent of Africa.This map is featured in Urban Africa produced by Esri's StoryMaps team. In generating this map, the StoryMaps team downloaded the original data files from the Africapolis and SEDAC data portals, cleaned and processed the spreadsheets, and visualized the output feature layers in ArcGIS Online.AfricapolisTotal population, city and country (2015)Urban population, city and country (2015)Percent change in urban population, city and country (2000, 2015)SEDACPopulation density (2015)

The average for 2024 based on 47 countries was 46.62 percent. The highest value was in Gabon: 91.31 percent and the lowest value was in Burundi: 15.16 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2024. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Historical dataset showing Africa urban population by year from N/A to N/A.

South Africa ZA: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data was reported at 26.327 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 26.291 % for 2016. South Africa ZA: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data is updated yearly, averaging 23.218 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 26.327 % in 2017 and a record low of 18.806 % in 1991. South Africa ZA: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s South Africa – Table ZA.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the percentage of a country's urban population living in that country's largest metropolitan area.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; Weighted Average;

Nigeria has the largest population in Africa. As of 2025, the country counted over 237.5 million individuals, whereas Ethiopia, which ranked second, has around 135.5 million inhabitants. Egypt registered the largest population in North Africa, reaching nearly 118.4 million people. In terms of inhabitants per square kilometer, Nigeria only ranked seventh, while Mauritius had the highest population density on the whole African continent in 2023. The fastest-growing world region Africa is the second most populous continent in the world, after Asia. Nevertheless, Africa records the highest growth rate worldwide, with figures rising by over two percent every year. In some countries, such as Chad, South Sudan, Somalia, and the Central African Republic, the population increase peaks at over 3.4 percent. With so many births, Africa is also the youngest continent in the world. However, this coincides with a low life expectancy. African cities on the rise The last decades have seen high urbanization rates in Asia, mainly in China and India. African cities are also growing at large rates. Indeed, the continent has three megacities and is expected to add four more by 2050. Furthermore, Africa's fastest-growing cities are forecast to be Bujumbura, in Burundi, and Zinder, Nigeria, by 2035.

The African Cities Population Database (ACPD) has been produced by the Birkbeck College of the University of London in 1990 at the request of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya. The database contains head counts for 479 cities in Africa which either have a population of over 20,000 or are capitals of their nation state. Listed are the geographical location of the cities and their population sizes. The material is primarily derived from a 1988 report of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and several issues of the United Nations Demographic Yearbook (1973-81). Severe problems were found with several countries such as Togo, Ghana and South Africa. For South Africa, the data were derived from the United Nations Demographic Yearbook 1987.

WCPD is an Arc/Info point coverage. It has no projection, as the cities are located on the basis of their latitude and longitude. Coordinates were assigned on the basis of gazetteers or African maps. Each record in the data base contains details of the city name, country name, latitude and longitude of the city, and its population at a defined time. The Arc/Info attribute table contains the following fields:

AREA Arc/Info item PERIMETER Arc/Info item ACPD# Arc/Info item ACPD-ID Arc/Info item ID-NUM Unique number for each city CITY City name COUNTRY Country name CITY-POP Population of city proper YEAR Latest available year of collection

ACPD comes as an Arc/Info EXPORT file originally called "ACPD.E00" and contains 67 Kb of data. The file has a record length of 80 and a block size of 8000 (blocking factor = 100). The file can be read from tape using Arc/Info's TAPEREAD command or any other generic copy utility. If distributed on a diskette it can be read using the ordinary DOS 'COPY' command. The file has to be converted to Arc/Info internal format using its IMPORT command.

References to the WCPD data set can be found in:

• SERLL News, Issue No. 1, January 1991, Birkbeck College, London, UK.
• D. Rhind. "Cartographically-related research at Birkbeck College 1987-91" in: The Cartographic Journal, Vol. 28, June 1991, pp. 63-66.

The source of the WCPD data set as held by GRID is Birkbeck College, University of London, Department of Geography, London, UK.

Urban population in Central African Republic was reported at 2352433 in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Central African Republic - Urban population - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on September of 2025.

Central African Republic CF: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data was reported at 41.913 % in 2024. This records a decrease from the previous number of 42.646 % for 2023. Central African Republic CF: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data is updated yearly, averaging 41.010 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2024, with 65 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 44.896 % in 1988 and a record low of 27.574 % in 1960. Central African Republic CF: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Central African Republic – Table CF.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the percentage of a country's urban population living in that country's largest metropolitan area.;United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.;Weighted average;

This horizontal bar chart displays population (people) by capital city using the aggregation sum in Africa. The data is about countries.

Historical dataset of population level and growth rate for the Buffalo City, South Africa metro area from 1950 to 2025.

This dataset is about cities in Southern Africa. It has 334 rows. It features 2 columns including population.

Population in the largest city (% of urban population) in South Africa was reported at 14.26 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. South Africa - Population in the largest city - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on September of 2025.

South Africa ZA: Population in Largest City data was reported at 9,822,625.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 9,615,976.000 Person for 2016. South Africa ZA: Population in Largest City data is updated yearly, averaging 3,628,124.500 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 9,822,625.000 Person in 2017 and a record low of 2,136,849.000 Person in 1960. South Africa ZA: Population in Largest City data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s South Africa – Table ZA.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the urban population living in the country's largest metropolitan area.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; ;

Africa: Population living in slums (% of urban population)

  Dataset summary

This dataset provides values for "Population living in slums (% of urban population)" across African countries, standardized and made ML-ready. Geographic scope: 54 African countries. Temporal coverage: 1960–2024 (annual). Units: As defined by the World Bank indicator.

  Source & licensing

Source: World Bank – World Development Indicators (WDI), Indicator code: EN.POP.SLUM.UR.ZS.… See the full description on the dataset page: https://huggingface.co/datasets/electricsheepafrica/Population-living-in-slums-percentage-of-urban-population-africa.