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.

This data set consists of 83 digital maps that were produced by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for the World Bank as part of a Global Farming Systems Study. The maps are distributed through the FAO-UN GeoNetwork Portal to Spatial Data and Information.

As part of the World Bank's review of its rural development strategy, the Bank sought the assistance of FAO in evaluating how farming systems might change and adapt over the next thirty years. Amongst other objectives, the World Bank asked FAO to provide guidance on priorities for investment in food security, poverty reduction, and economic growth, and in particular to identify promising approaches and technologies that will contribute to these goals. The results of the study are summarized in a set of seven documents, comprising six regional reports and a global overview. The global overview, which synthesizes the results of the six regional analyses as well as discussing global trends, cross-cutting issues and possible implementation modalities, presents an overview of the complete study. The global document is supplemented by two case study reports of development issues of importance to farming systems globally.

The six regions studied include:

East Asia Pacific East Europe and Central Asia Latin America and Caribbean Middle East and North Africa South Asia Sub-Saharan Africa

Map coverages for each region include the following:

Average precipitation Average temperature Elevation Irrigation intensity Land cover Length of growing period Livestock stocking density Major environmental constraints Major farming systems NOAA Satellite imagery (shaded relief imagery and ocean floor bathymetry) Permanent crop and arable land Rural population Slope Total population

The map coverages were prepared by FAO based on the following data sources:

Doll, P. and Siebert, S. 1999. A Digital Global Map of Irrigated Areas, Report No A9901, Centre for Environmental Systems Research, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany.

Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) Data and Maps 1999, Volume 1. World Worldsat Color Shaded Relief Image. Based on 1996 NOAA weather satellite images, with enhanced shaded relief imagery and ocean floor relief data (bathymetry) to provide a land and undersea topographic view. ESRI, Redlands, California, USA.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Land and Water Development Division (AGL) with the collaboration of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). 2000. Global Agro-Ecological Zones Study. FAO, Rome, Italy.

Gomes, R. 1999. Major Environmental Constraints for Agricultural Production Project. Based on FAOCLIM database, ARTEMIS NDVI imagery, and soil and terrain data provided by Soil Resources Management and Conservation Service. FAO-GIS. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Environment and Natural Resources Service, Rome, Italy.

Leemans, R. and Cramer, W. 1991. The IIASA Database for Mean Monthly Values of Temperature, Precipitation and Cloudiness on a Global Terrestrial Grid. Research Report RR-91-18. November 1991. International Institute of Applied Systems Analyses, Laxenburg, pp. 61.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory, LandScan Global Population 1998 Database. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA.

Slingenbergh, J. Livestock Distribution, Production and Diseases: Towards a Global Livestock Atlas. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), AGAH, Rome, Italy. (aka Global Livestock Production and Health Atlas (GLiPHA))

U.S. Geological Survey, EROS Data Center. 1996. GTOPO30 Digital Data Set. EDC, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA.

The earliest point where scientists can make reasonable estimates for the population of global regions is around 10,000 years before the Common Era (or 12,000 years ago). Estimates suggest that Asia has consistently been the most populated continent, and the least populated continent has generally been Oceania (although it was more heavily populated than areas such as North America in very early years). Population growth was very slow, but an increase can be observed between most of the given time periods. There were, however, dips in population due to pandemics, the most notable of these being the impact of plague in Eurasia in the 14th century, and the impact of European contact with the indigenous populations of the Americas after 1492, where it took almost four centuries for the population of Latin America to return to its pre-1500 level. The world's population first reached one billion people in 1803, which also coincided with a spike in population growth, due to the onset of the demographic transition. This wave of growth first spread across the most industrially developed countries in the 19th century, and the correlation between demographic development and industrial or economic maturity continued until today, with Africa being the final major region to begin its transition in the late-1900s.