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 population in Africa is expected to grow by ** percent by 2050. Among the countries forecast to be the most populated in the continent, Nigeria leads, with an estimated population of over *** million people. Currently, the nation has already the largest number of inhabitants in Africa. The highest population growth is expected to be measured in Angola, by ***** percent between 2019 and 2050. The number of inhabitants in the country is forecast to jump from **** million to **** million in the mentioned period.

This dataset provides values for POPULATION reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

Mauritius had the highest population density level in Africa as of 2023, with nearly *** inhabitants per square kilometer. The country has also one of the smallest territories on the continent, which contributes to the high density. As a matter of fact, the majority of African countries with the largest concentration of people per square kilometer have the smallest geographical area as well. The exception is Nigeria, which ranks among the largest territorial countries in Africa and is very densely populated at the same time. After all, Nigeria has also the largest population on the continent.

The population in Africa was forecast to expand annually by an average of **** percent between 2020 and 2025. Over 20 countries might grow above this rate, with Niger leading by an annual population change of *** percent in the mentioned period. Angola was expected to follow, with an average population growth of **** percent annually. Overall, Africa has recorded a faster population growth compared to other world regions. The continent's population almost doubled in the last 25 years.

The average for 2021 based on 53 countries was 112 people per square km. The highest value was in Mauritius: 634 people per square km and the lowest value was in Namibia: 3 people per square km. The indicator is available from 1961 to 2021. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Top five largest countries of Africa by land size are Algeria, Congo Democratic Republic of the, Sudan, Libya and Chad but the top five largest populations in Africa are in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania.

The northernmost region of the African continent was home to approximately 208 million individuals in 2023. Egypt, the third most populous country in Africa, had roughly 50 percent of the region's population living within its borders, with over 105 million inhabitants. Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia followed with 46 million, 37 million, and 12 million citizens, respectively.

The average for 2024 based on 53 countries was 50.8 percent. The highest value was in Burundi: 84.84 percent and the lowest value was in Gabon: 8.69 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2024. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

In 2025, India overtook China as the world's most populous country and now has almost 1.46 billion people. China now has the second-largest population in the world, still with just over 1.4 billion inhabitants, however, its population went into decline in 2023. Global population As of 2025, the world's population stands at almost 8.2 billion people and is expected to reach around 10.3 billion people in the 2080s, when it will then go into decline. Due to improved healthcare, sanitation, and general living conditions, the global population continues to increase; mortality rates (particularly among infants and children) are decreasing and the median age of the world population has steadily increased for decades. As for the average life expectancy in industrial and developing countries, the gap has narrowed significantly since the mid-20th century. Asia is the most populous continent on Earth; 11 of the 20 largest countries are located there. It leads the ranking of the global population by continent by far, reporting four times as many inhabitants as Africa. The Demographic Transition The population explosion over the past two centuries is part of a phenomenon known as the demographic transition. Simply put, this transition results from a drastic reduction in mortality, which then leads to a reduction in fertility, and increase in life expectancy; this interim period where death rates are low and birth rates are high is where this population explosion occurs, and population growth can remain high as the population ages. In today's most-developed countries, the transition generally began with industrialization in the 1800s, and growth has now stabilized as birth and mortality rates have re-balanced. Across less-developed countries, the stage of this transition varies; for example, China is at a later stage than India, which accounts for the change in which country is more populous - understanding the demographic transition can help understand the reason why China's population is now going into decline. The least-developed region is Sub-Saharan Africa, where fertility rates remain close to pre-industrial levels in some countries. As these countries transition, they will undergo significant rates of population growth.

The average for 2024 based on 53 countries was 50.08 percent. The highest value was in Zimbabwe: 52.33 percent and the lowest value was in the Seychelles: 44.84 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2024. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

The Africa Population Distribution Database provides decadal population density data for African administrative units for the period 1960-1990. The databsae was prepared for the United Nations Environment Programme / Global Resource Information Database (UNEP/GRID) project as part of an ongoing effort to improve global, spatially referenced demographic data holdings. The database is useful for a variety of applications including strategic-level agricultural research and applications in the analysis of the human dimensions of global change.

This documentation describes the third version of a database of administrative units and associated population density data for Africa. The first version was compiled for UNEP's Global Desertification Atlas (UNEP, 1997; Deichmann and Eklundh, 1991), while the second version represented an update and expansion of this first product (Deichmann, 1994; WRI, 1995). The current work is also related to National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) activities to produce a global database of subnational population estimates (Tobler et al., 1995), and an improved database for the Asian continent (Deichmann, 1996). The new version for Africa provides considerably more detail: more than 4700 administrative units, compared to about 800 in the first and 2200 in the second version. In addition, for each of these units a population estimate was compiled for 1960, 70, 80 and 90 which provides an indication of past population dynamics in Africa. Forthcoming are population count data files as download options.

African population density data were compiled from a large number of heterogeneous sources, including official government censuses and estimates/projections derived from yearbooks, gazetteers, area handbooks, and other country studies. The political boundaries template (PONET) of the Digital Chart of the World (DCW) was used delineate national boundaries and coastlines for African countries.

For more information on African population density and administrative boundary data sets, see metadata files at [http://na.unep.net/datasets/datalist.php3] which provide information on file identification, format, spatial data organization, distribution, and metadata reference.

References:

Deichmann, U. 1994. A medium resolution population database for Africa, Database documentation and digital database, National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Deichmann, U. and L. Eklundh. 1991. Global digital datasets for land degradation studies: A GIS approach, GRID Case Study Series No. 4, Global Resource Information Database, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi.

UNEP. 1997. World Atlas of Desertification, 2nd Ed., United Nations Environment Programme, Edward Arnold Publishers, London.

WRI. 1995. Africa data sampler, Digital database and documentation, World Resources Institute, Washington, D.C.

The average for 2023 based on 48 countries was 163437 refugees. The highest value was in Uganda: 1577498 refugees and the lowest value was in Mauritius: 5 refugees. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Abstract

The authors combine data from 84 Demographic and Health Surveys from 46 countries to analyze trends and socioeconomic differences in adult mortality, calculating mortality based on the sibling mortality reports collected from female respondents aged 15-49.

The analysis yields four main findings. First, adult mortality is different from child mortality: while under-5 mortality shows a definite improving trend over time, adult mortality does not, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. The second main finding is the increase in adult mortality in Sub-Saharan African countries. The increase is dramatic among those most affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Mortality rates in the highest HIV-prevalence countries of southern Africa exceed those in countries that experienced episodes of civil war. Third, even in Sub-Saharan countries where HIV-prevalence is not as high, mortality rates appear to be at best stagnating, and even increasing in several cases. Finally, the main socioeconomic dimension along which mortality appears to differ in the aggregate is gender. Adult mortality rates in Sub-Saharan Africa have risen substantially higher for men than for women?especially so in the high HIV-prevalence countries. On the whole, the data do not show large gaps by urban/rural residence or by school attainment.

This paper is a product of the Human Development and Public Services Team, Development Research Group. It is part of a larger effort by the World Bank to provide open access to its research and make a contribution to development policy discussions around the world. Policy Research Working Papers are also posted on the Web at http://econ.worldbank.org.

Geographic coverage

We derive estimates of adult mortality from an analysis of Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data from 46 countries, 33 of which are from Sub-Saharan Africa and 13 of which are from countries in other regions (Annex Table). Several of the countries have been surveyed more than once and we base our estimates on the total of 84 surveys that have been carried out (59 in Sub-Saharan Africa, 25 elsewhere).

The countries covered by DHS in Sub-Saharan Africa represent almost 90 percent of the region's population. Outside of Sub-Saharan Africa the DHS surveys we use cover a far smaller share of the population-even if this is restricted to countries whose GDP per capita never exceeds $10,000: overall about 14 percent of the population is covered by these countries, although this increases to 29 percent if China and India are excluded (countries for which we cannot calculate adult mortality using the DHS). It is therefore important to keep in mind that the sample of non-Sub-Saharan African countries we have cannot be thought of as "representative" of the rest of the world, or even the rest of the developing world.

Analysis unit

Country

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Cleaning operations

In the course of carrying out this study, the authors created two databases of adult mortality estimates based on the original DHS datasets, both of which are publicly available for analysts who wish to carry out their own analysis of the data.

The naming conventions for the adult mortality-related are as follows. Variables are named:

GGG_MC_AAAA

GGG refers to the population subgroup. The values it can take, and the corresponding definitions are in the following table:

All - All Fem - Female Mal - Male Rur - Rural Urb - Urban Rurm - Rural/Male Urbm - Urban/Male Rurf - Rural/Female Urbf - Urban/Female Noed - No education Pri - Some or completed primary only Sec - At least some secondary education Noedm - No education/Male Prim - Some or completed primary only/Male Secm - At least some secondary education/Male Noedf - No education/Female Prif - Some or completed primary only/Female Secf - At least some secondary education/Female Rch - Rural as child Uch - Urban as child Rchm - Rural as child/Male Uchm - Urban as child/Male Rchf - Rural as child/Female Uchf - Urban as child/Female Edltp - Less than primary schooling Edpom - Primary or more schooling Edltpm - Less than primary schooling/Male Edpomm - Primary or more schooling/Male Edltpf - Less than primary schooling/Female Edpomf - Primary or more schooling/Female Edltpu - Less than primary schooling/Urban Edpomu - Primary or more schooling/Urban Edltpr - Less than primary schooling/Rural Edpomr - Primary or more schooling/Rural Edltpmu - Less than primary schooling/Male/Urban Edpommu - Primary or more schooling/Male/Urban Edltpmr - Less than primary schooling/Male/Rural Edpommr - Primary or more schooling/Male/Rural Edltpfu - Less than primary schooling/Female/Urban Edpomfu - Primary or more schooling/Female/Urban Edltpfr - Less than primary schooling/Female/Rural Edpomfr - Primary or more schooling/Female/Rural

M refers to whether the variable is the number of observations used to calculate the estimate (in which case M takes on the value "n") or whether it is a mortality estimate (in which case M takes on the value "m").

C refers to whether the variable is for the unadjusted mortality rate calculation (in which case C takes on the value "u") or whether it adjusts for the number of surviving female siblings (in which case C takes on the value "a").

AAAA refers to the age group that the mortality estimate is calculated for. It takes on the values: 1554 - Ages 15-54 1524 - Ages 15-24 2534 - Ages 25-34 3544 - Ages 35-44 4554 - Ages 45-54

Other variables that are in the databases are:

period - Period for which mortality rate is calculated (takes on the values 1975-79, 1980-84 … 2000-04) svycountry - Name of country for DHS countries ccode3 - Country code u5mr - Under-5 mortality (from World Development Indicators) cname - Country name gdppc - GDP per capita (constant 2000 US$) (from World Development Indicators) gdppcppp - GDP per capita PPP (constant 2005 intl $) (from World Development Indicators) pop - Population (from World Development Indicators) hivprev2001 - HIV prevalence in 2001 (from UNAIDS 2010) region - Region

Africa's population is projected to grow significantly in the coming years. Estimates conducted in July 2020 show that Nigeria, the most populous country on the continent, would reach around *** million inhabitants by 2100. Compared to 2021, when the country counted *** million people, this would represent an impressive growth of around *** percent. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is estimated to be the second most populous nation on the African continent, reaching *** million individuals. According to the study, nine countries in Africa would exceed 100 million people by 2100.

The West Africa Coastal Vulnerability Mapping: Population Projections, 2030 and 2050 data set is based on an unreleased working version of the Gridded Population of the World (GPW), Version 4, year 2010 population count raster but at a coarser 5 arc-minute resolution. Bryan Jones of Baruch College produced country-level projections based on the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway 4 (SSP4). SSP4 reflects a divided world where cities that have relatively high standards of living, are attractive to internal and international migrants. In low income countries, rapidly growing rural populations live on shrinking areas of arable land due to both high population pressure and expansion of large-scale mechanized farming by international agricultural firms. This pressure induces large migration flow to the cities, contributing to fast urbanization, although urban areas do not provide many opportUnities for the poor and there is a massive expansion of slums and squatter settlements. This scenario may not be the most likely for the West Africa region, but it has internal coherence and is at least plausible.

According to the forecast, Africa's total population would reach nearly 2.5 billion by 2050. In 2025, the continent had around 1.55 billion inhabitants, with Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Egypt as the most populous countries. In the coming years, Africa will experience significant population growth and will close the gap significantly with the Asian population by 2100. Rapid population growth In Africa, the annual growth rate of the population followed an overall increasing trend up to 2013, reaching nearly 2.63 percent. This was followed by a drop to 2.32 percent by 2023. Although population growth was slowing down, it was still growing faster than in all other regions. The reasons behind this rapid growth are various. One factor is the high fertility rate registered in African countries. In 2023, a woman in Somalia, Chad, Niger, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic had an average of over six children in her reproductive years, the highest rate on the continent. High fertility resulted in a large young population and partly compensated for the high mortality rate in Africa, leading to fast-paced population growth. High poverty levels Africa’s population is concerned with widespread poverty. In 2025, over 438 million people on the continent are extremely poor and live with less than 2.15 U.S. dollars per day. Globally, Africa is the continent hosting the highest poverty rate. In 2025, the countries of Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo account for over 23 percent of the world's population living in extreme poverty. Nevertheless, the share of the population living in poverty in Africa is forecast to decrease in the coming years.

Africa has the youngest population in the world. Among the 35 countries with the lowest median age worldwide, only three fall outside the continent. In 2023, the median age in Niger was 15.1 years, the youngest country. This means that at this age point, half of the population was younger and half older. A young population reflects several demographic characteristics of a country. For instance, together with a high population growth, life expectancy in Western Africa is low: this reached 58 years for men and 60 for women in 2024. Overall, Africa has the lowest life expectancy in the world.

Africa’s population is still growing Africa’s population growth can be linked to a high fertility rate, along with a drop in death rates. Despite the fertility rate on the continent following a constant declining trend, it remains far higher compared to all other regions worldwide. It was forecast to reach 4.02 children per woman, compared to a worldwide average of 2.25 children per woman in 2024. Furthermore, the crude death rate in Africa overall dropped, only increasing slightly during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The largest populations on the continent Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Democratic Republic of Congo are the most populous African countries. In 2025, people living in Nigeria amounted to over 237 million, while the number for the three other countries exceeded 100 million each. Of those, the Democratic Republic of Congo sustained the fourth-highest fertility rate in Africa in 2023. Nigeria and Ethiopia also had high rates, with 4.48 and 3.99 births per woman, respectively. Although such a high fertility rate is expected to slow down, it will still impact the population structure, growing younger nations.

Abstract

Round 1 of the Afrobarometer survey was conducted from July 1999 through June 2001 in 12 African countries, to solicit public opinion on democracy, governance, markets, and national identity. The full 12 country dataset released was pieced together out of different projects, Round 1 of the Afrobarometer survey,the old Southern African Democracy Barometer, and similar surveys done in West and East Africa.

The 7 country dataset is a subset of the Round 1 survey dataset, and consists of a combined dataset for the 7 Southern African countries surveyed with other African countries in Round 1, 1999-2000 (Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe). It is a useful dataset because, in contrast to the full 12 country Round 1 dataset, all countries in this dataset were surveyed with the identical questionnaire

Geographic coverage

Botswana Lesotho Malawi Namibia South Africa Zambia Zimbabwe

Analysis unit

Basic units of analysis that the study investigates include: individuals and groups

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

A new sample has to be drawn for each round of Afrobarometer surveys. Whereas the standard sample size for Round 3 surveys will be 1200 cases, a larger sample size will be required in societies that are extremely heterogeneous (such as South Africa and Nigeria), where the sample size will be increased to 2400. Other adaptations may be necessary within some countries to account for the varying quality of the census data or the availability of census maps.

The sample is designed as a representative cross-section of all citizens of voting age in a given country. The goal is to give every adult citizen an equal and known chance of selection for interview. We strive to reach this objective by (a) strictly applying random selection methods at every stage of sampling and by (b) applying sampling with probability proportionate to population size wherever possible. A randomly selected sample of 1200 cases allows inferences to national adult populations with a margin of sampling error of no more than plus or minus 2.5 percent with a confidence level of 95 percent. If the sample size is increased to 2400, the confidence interval shrinks to plus or minus 2 percent.

Sample Universe

The sample universe for Afrobarometer surveys includes all citizens of voting age within the country. In other words, we exclude anyone who is not a citizen and anyone who has not attained this age (usually 18 years) on the day of the survey. Also excluded are areas determined to be either inaccessible or not relevant to the study, such as those experiencing armed conflict or natural disasters, as well as national parks and game reserves. As a matter of practice, we have also excluded people living in institutionalized settings, such as students in dormitories and persons in prisons or nursing homes.

What to do about areas experiencing political unrest? On the one hand we want to include them because they are politically important. On the other hand, we want to avoid stretching out the fieldwork over many months while we wait for the situation to settle down. It was agreed at the 2002 Cape Town Planning Workshop that it is difficult to come up with a general rule that will fit all imaginable circumstances. We will therefore make judgments on a case-by-case basis on whether or not to proceed with fieldwork or to exclude or substitute areas of conflict. National Partners are requested to consult Core Partners on any major delays, exclusions or substitutions of this sort.

Sample Design

The sample design is a clustered, stratified, multi-stage, area probability sample.

To repeat the main sampling principle, the objective of the design is to give every sample element (i.e. adult citizen) an equal and known chance of being chosen for inclusion in the sample. We strive to reach this objective by (a) strictly applying random selection methods at every stage of sampling and by (b) applying sampling with probability proportionate to population size wherever possible.

In a series of stages, geographically defined sampling units of decreasing size are selected. To ensure that the sample is representative, the probability of selection at various stages is adjusted as follows:

The sample is stratified by key social characteristics in the population such as sub-national area (e.g. region/province) and residential locality (urban or rural). The area stratification reduces the likelihood that distinctive ethnic or language groups are left out of the sample. And the urban/rural stratification is a means to make sure that these localities are represented in their correct proportions. Wherever possible, and always in the first stage of sampling, random sampling is conducted with probability proportionate to population size (PPPS). The purpose is to guarantee that larger (i.e., more populated) geographical units have a proportionally greater probability of being chosen into the sample. The sampling design has four stages

A first-stage to stratify and randomly select primary sampling units;

A second-stage to randomly select sampling start-points;

A third stage to randomly choose households;

A final-stage involving the random selection of individual respondents

We shall deal with each of these stages in turn.

STAGE ONE: Selection of Primary Sampling Units (PSUs)

The primary sampling units (PSU's) are the smallest, well-defined geographic units for which reliable population data are available. In most countries, these will be Census Enumeration Areas (or EAs). Most national census data and maps are broken down to the EA level. In the text that follows we will use the acronyms PSU and EA interchangeably because, when census data are employed, they refer to the same unit.

We strongly recommend that NIs use official national census data as the sampling frame for Afrobarometer surveys. Where recent or reliable census data are not available, NIs are asked to inform the relevant Core Partner before they substitute any other demographic data. Where the census is out of date, NIs should consult a demographer to obtain the best possible estimates of population growth rates. These should be applied to the outdated census data in order to make projections of population figures for the year of the survey. It is important to bear in mind that population growth rates vary by area (region) and (especially) between rural and urban localities. Therefore, any projected census data should include adjustments to take such variations into account.

Indeed, we urge NIs to establish collegial working relationships within professionals in the national census bureau, not only to obtain the most recent census data, projections, and maps, but to gain access to sampling expertise. NIs may even commission a census statistician to draw the sample to Afrobarometer specifications, provided that provision for this service has been made in the survey budget.

Regardless of who draws the sample, the NIs should thoroughly acquaint themselves with the strengths and weaknesses of the available census data and the availability and quality of EA maps. The country and methodology reports should cite the exact census data used, its known shortcomings, if any, and any projections made from the data. At minimum, the NI must know the size of the population and the urban/rural population divide in each region in order to specify how to distribute population and PSU's in the first stage of sampling. National investigators should obtain this written data before they attempt to stratify the sample.

Once this data is obtained, the sample population (either 1200 or 2400) should be stratified, first by area (region/province) and then by residential locality (urban or rural). In each case, the proportion of the sample in each locality in each region should be the same as its proportion in the national population as indicated by the updated census figures.

Having stratified the sample, it is then possible to determine how many PSU's should be selected for the country as a whole, for each region, and for each urban or rural locality.

The total number of PSU's to be selected for the whole country is determined by calculating the maximum degree of clustering of interviews one can accept in any PSU. Because PSUs (which are usually geographically small EAs) tend to be socially homogenous we do not want to select too many people in any one place. Thus, the Afrobarometer has established a standard of no more than 8 interviews per PSU. For a sample size of 1200, the sample must therefore contain 150 PSUs/EAs (1200 divided by 8). For a sample size of 2400, there must be 300 PSUs/EAs.

These PSUs should then be allocated proportionally to the urban and rural localities within each regional stratum of the sample. Let's take a couple of examples from a country with a sample size of 1200. If the urban locality of Region X in this country constitutes 10 percent of the current national population, then the sample for this stratum should be 15 PSUs (calculated as 10 percent of 150 PSUs). If the rural population of Region Y constitutes 4 percent of the current national population, then the sample for this stratum should be 6 PSU's.

The next step is to select particular PSUs/EAs using random methods. Using the above example of the rural localities in Region Y, let us say that you need to pick 6 sample EAs out of a census list that contains a total of 240 rural EAs in Region Y. But which 6? If the EAs created by the national census bureau are of equal or roughly equal population size, then selection is relatively straightforward. Just number all EAs consecutively, then make six selections using a table of random numbers. This procedure, known as simple random sampling (SRS), will

The average for 2021 based on 28 countries was 34.53 percent. The highest value was in Mauritius: 89.96 percent and the lowest value was in Guinea: 13.77 percent. The indicator is available from 2011 to 2021. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.