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.

In 2021, Egypt was the North African country with the highest share of people aged 0-14 years, making up 33.8 percent of the total population. On the contrary, Tunisia presented the lowest percentage of young people in this age group, which constituted 24.2 percent of the total population.

The total population in the 'Demography' segment of the socioeconomic indicators market in Africa was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2029 by in total 34.6 million (+6.07 percent). After the seventh consecutive increasing year, the indicator is estimated to reach 604.38 million and therefore a new peak in 2029. Notably, the total population of the 'Demography' segment of the socioeconomic indicators market was continuously increasing over the past years. The Statista Market Insights cover a broad range of additional markets.

As of 2022, Cairo was the most populated city in the North African region with over 7.7 million inhabitants. It was followed by Alexandria and Casablanca, with 3.1 million and 2.4 million people, respectively. Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa.

This statistic illustrates the share of population with access to electricity in North Africa from 1990 to 2014. As of 2014, the share of the North African population with access to electricity was 96,7 percent.

Nigeria has the largest population in Africa. As of 2024, the country counted over 232.6 million individuals, whereas Ethiopia, which ranked second, has around 132 million inhabitants. Egypt registered the largest population in North Africa, reaching nearly 116 million people. In terms of inhabitants per square kilometer, Nigeria only ranks seventh, while Mauritius has the highest population density on the whole African continent. 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 Niger, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Chad, the population increase peaks at over three 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. However, African cities are currently growing at larger rates. Indeed, most of the fastest-growing cities in the world are located in Sub-Saharan Africa. Gwagwalada, in Nigeria, and Kabinda, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, ranked first worldwide. By 2035, instead, Africa's fastest-growing cities are forecast to be Bujumbura, in Burundi, and Zinder, Nigeria.

This statistic shows the total population of the MENA countries in 2023. MENA stands for the Middle East and North Africa region. In 2023, the total population of Egypt amounted to 105.2 million inhabitants.

Libya had the largest population of concern in North Africa in 2020. The country hosted around 928 thousand people in need, including refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees, stateless, or people at risk of statelessness. Egypt followed with a population of concern of 259 thousand individuals. On the other hand, Tunisia hosted the lowest number, approximately six thousand.

In 2021, there were around 207 million children aged 0-4 years in Africa. In total, the population aged 17 years and younger amounted to approximately 650 million. In contrast, only approximately 48 million individuals were aged 65 years and older as of the same year. The youngest continent in the world Africa is the continent with the youngest population worldwide. As of 2023, around 40 percent of the population was aged 15 years and younger, compared to a global average of 25 percent. Although the median age on the continent has been increasing annually, it remains low at around 20 years. There are several reasons behind the low median age. One factor is the low life expectancy at birth: On average, the male and female population in Africa live between 61 and 65 years, respectively. In addition, poor healthcare on the continent leads to high mortality, also among children and newborns, while the high fertility rate contributes to lowering the median age. Cross-country demographic differences Africa’s demographic characteristics are not uniform across the continent. The age structure of the population differs significantly from one country to another. For instance, Niger and Uganda have the lowest median age in Africa, at 15.1 and 16.1 years, respectively. Not surprisingly, these countries also register a high crude birth rate. On the other hand, North Africa is the region recording the highest life expectancy at birth, with Algeria leading the ranking in 2023.

In 2019, international migrants constituted 1.3 percent of the total population of North Africa. However, the share varied significantly according to the country. Libya had the largest percentage of international migrants, corresponding to 12 percent of the total inhabitants, which were around 6.78 million. The majority of these originated from Sub-Saharan Africa as of October 2020. Indeed, Libya has become a place of transit from where migrants reach Europe.

North Africa had the highest access to electricity in Africa. In 2021, some 98 percent of the population had access to electricity. Western Africa, Southern Africa, and Eastern Africa had an access rate ranging between 56 percent and 52 percent. On the other hand, under one-third of the individuals in Central Africa had electricity.

The world's population first reached one billion people in 1803, and reach eight billion in 2023, and will peak at almost 11 billion by the end of the century. Although it took thousands of years to reach one billion people, it did so at the beginning of a phenomenon known as the demographic transition; from this point onwards, population growth has skyrocketed, and since the 1960s the population has increased by one billion people every 12 to 15 years. The demographic transition sees a sharp drop in mortality due to factors such as vaccination, sanitation, and improved food supply; the population boom that follows is due to increased survival rates among children and higher life expectancy among the general population; and fertility then drops in response to this population growth. Regional differences The demographic transition is a global phenomenon, but it has taken place at different times across the world. The industrialized countries of Europe and North America were the first to go through this process, followed by some states in the Western Pacific. Latin America's population then began growing at the turn of the 20th century, but the most significant period of global population growth occurred as Asia progressed in the late-1900s. As of the early 21st century, almost two thirds of the world's population live in Asia, although this is set to change significantly in the coming decades. Future growth The growth of Africa's population, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, will have the largest impact on global demographics in this century. From 2000 to 2100, it is expected that Africa's population will have increased by a factor of almost five. It overtook Europe in size in the late 1990s, and overtook the Americas a decade later. In contrast to Africa, Europe's population is now in decline, as birth rates are consistently below death rates in many countries, especially in the south and east, resulting in natural population decline. Similarly, the population of the Americas and Asia are expected to go into decline in the second half of this century, and only Oceania's population will still be growing alongside Africa. By 2100, the world's population will have over three billion more than today, with the vast majority of this concentrated in Africa. Demographers predict that climate change is exacerbating many of the challenges that currently hinder progress in Africa, such as political and food instability; if Africa's transition is prolonged, then it may result in further population growth that would place a strain on the region's resources, however, curbing this growth earlier would alleviate some of the pressure created by climate change.

This statistic shows the 10 countries in Middle East-North Africa with the largest number of Christians in 2010. 4.29 million Christians lived in Egypt.

In 2023, the urbanization rate in Africa stood at around 45 percent. North Africa was the most urbanized region, with approximately 56 percent of its population living in urban areas. In contrast, East Africa recorded an urbanization rate below 30 percent, the lowest on the continent.

Sudan has the highest poverty rate in North Africa. According to projections, around 32 percent of Sudan's population lived below the national poverty line in 2022. Poverty levels were also high in Mauritania and Egypt, with the poverty rate reaching almost 28 percent. By 2023, poverty in the region was projected to decline slightly.

The total population in the Middle East and Africa region was approximately 484 million in 2018. It was expected to increase to 581 million in 2030, and almost double by 2050 to reach about 724 million.

Demographics

The Middle East and Africa region includes 19 countries, which is approximately of six percent of the population of the world. The population is characterized with an above average fertility rate of 2.8, compared to the global fertility rate of 2.44. Due to the decrease in death rates due to the introduction of modern medicine, combined with the steady birth rates, the population of the MENA region is expected to continue growing in the future. Population growth might cause governmental burden in the future as governments try to decrease poverty rates, provide healthcare, and education to the larger number of people.

The Arab spring

In 2011, a series of demonstrations spread across many Arab countries to overthrow oppressive governments and dictators. It initiated from Tunisia, and spread to other countries including Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, and Syria. The instability caused by the Arab spring affected international oil supply and prices, as the MENA region owns 60 percent of the world’s oil reserves and 45 percent of its natural gas reserves which makes it an important global economic stability factor. Some countries succeeded in overthrowing their oppressive governments, while other protests resulted in social violence and civil wars. The instability forced 15 million people to seek refuge in neighboring countries. It was declared as the worst refugee crisis after World War II.

This statistic depicts the share of urban population living in slums in North Africa in 2014, by country. During the surveyed time period, 80 percent of the Mauritanian urban population dwelled in slums.

This statistic shows religious diversity in Middle East and North Africa in 2010, by share of religious population. In 2010, about 93 percent of population in the Middle East and North Africa were Muslims.

As of 2023, Eastern Africa was the region with the largest population in Africa, with around 485 million inhabitants. On the contrary, Southern Africa was the least populous area and counted approximately 69 million people. In 2021, the total population of the African continent exceeded 1.36 billion.

The population share with internet access in Qatar was forecast to remain on a similar level in 2029 as compared to 2024 with 98 percent. According to this forecast, the internet penetration will stay nearly the same over the forecast period. The penetration rate refers to the share of the total population having access to the internet via any means. The shown figures have been derived from survey data that has been processed to estimate missing demographics.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in more than 150 countries and regions worldwide. All input data are sourced from international institutions, national statistical offices, and trade associations. All data has been are processed to generate comparable datasets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).Find more key insights for the population share with internet access in countries like Bahrain and Jordan.