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.

List of African countries by median age. Niger average age is 14.8, the youngest African country and the youngest country in the world. The African islands of Seychelles is the oldest African country with an average age of 36.8.

Ibrahim Traoré, who gained power in Burkina Faso following a coup d'état in 2022, is the youngest head of state worldwide. Most people on the list, like Kim Jong-un in North Korea and Nayib Bukele in El Salvador, hold real political power in their countries, whereas others have more ceremonial roles.

This statistic shows the countries with the lowest projected median age in 2050. By 2050, Niger is projected to have the population with the lowest median age at 19 years old.

List of African countries by median age of the total population and male and female median ages. Niger with an average age of 14.8 years old is the youngest country in Africa and the youngest country in the world.

Globally, about 25 percent of the population is under 15 years of age and 10 percent is over 65 years of age. Africa has the youngest population worldwide. In Sub-Saharan Africa, more than 40 percent of the population is below 15 years, and only three percent are above 65, indicating the low life expectancy in several of the countries. In Europe, on the other hand, a higher share of the population is above 65 years than the population under 15 years. Fertility rates The high share of children and youth in Africa is connected to the high fertility rates on the continent. For instance, South Sudan and Niger have the highest population growth rates globally. However, about 50 percent of the world’s population live in countries with low fertility, where women have less than 2.1 children. Some countries in Europe, like Latvia and Lithuania, have experienced a population decline of one percent, and in the Cook Islands, it is even above two percent. In Europe, the majority of the population was previously working-aged adults with few dependents, but this trend is expected to reverse soon, and it is predicted that by 2050, the older population will outnumber the young in many developed countries. Growing global population As of 2025, there are 8.1 billion people living on the planet, and this is expected to reach more than nine billion before 2040. Moreover, the global population is expected to reach 10 billions around 2060, before slowing and then even falling slightly by 2100. As the population growth rates indicate, a significant share of the population increase will happen in Africa.

The ranking of countries by average age of the population shows at one end of the spectrum the countries with the highest average age of the population. At the other end are the countries with the youngest populations: they usually have high birth rates and not very long life expectancy.

Kosovo, one of the youngest countries in an aging Europe, took its first steps on the road to greater prosperity a quarter of a century ago. Kosovo’s economy has experienced significant growth in recent years. The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has triggered Kosovo’s first ever recession in 2020. While spending on education has more than doubled, the quality of human capital needs to improve. And barriers to women’s economic empowerment need to be lifted. Proximity to major markets in Europe and a youthful population provide an opportunity for growth. Kosovo is one of the youngest countries in an aging Europe. Trade facilitation and logistics connectivity are getting better. Proximity to a large and affluent market, low taxes and labor costs, a resilient and liquid financial sector, and strong ties with its diaspora will help support growth.

Greenland Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data was reported at 30.116 % in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 29.881 % for 2022. Greenland Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data is updated yearly, averaging 38.402 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2023, with 64 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 88.043 % in 1966 and a record low of 29.280 % in 2017. Greenland Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Greenland – Table GL.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Age dependency ratio, young, is the ratio of younger dependents--people younger than 15--to the working-age population--those ages 15-64. Data are shown as the proportion of dependents per 100 working-age population.;World Bank staff estimates based on age distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2024 Revision.;Weighted average;

Context

The United States Census Bureau’s international dataset provides estimates of country populations since 1950 and projections through 2050. Specifically, the dataset includes midyear population figures broken down by age and gender assignment at birth. Additionally, time-series data is provided for attributes including fertility rates, birth rates, death rates, and migration rates.

Querying BigQuery tables

You can use the BigQuery Python client library to query tables in this dataset in Kernels. Note that methods available in Kernels are limited to querying data. Tables are at bigquery-public-data.census_bureau_international.

Sample Query 1

What countries have the longest life expectancy? In this query, 2016 census information is retrieved by joining the mortality_life_expectancy and country_names_area tables for countries larger than 25,000 km2. Without the size constraint, Monaco is the top result with an average life expectancy of over 89 years!

standardSQL

SELECT age.country_name, age.life_expectancy, size.country_area FROM ( SELECT country_name, life_expectancy FROM bigquery-public-data.census_bureau_international.mortality_life_expectancy WHERE year = 2016) age INNER JOIN ( SELECT country_name, country_area FROM bigquery-public-data.census_bureau_international.country_names_area where country_area > 25000) size ON age.country_name = size.country_name ORDER BY 2 DESC /* Limit removed for Data Studio Visualization */ LIMIT 10

Sample Query 2

Which countries have the largest proportion of their population under 25? Over 40% of the world’s population is under 25 and greater than 50% of the world’s population is under 30! This query retrieves the countries with the largest proportion of young people by joining the age-specific population table with the midyear (total) population table.

standardSQL

SELECT age.country_name, SUM(age.population) AS under_25, pop.midyear_population AS total, ROUND((SUM(age.population) / pop.midyear_population) * 100,2) AS pct_under_25 FROM ( SELECT country_name, population, country_code FROM bigquery-public-data.census_bureau_international.midyear_population_agespecific WHERE year =2017 AND age < 25) age INNER JOIN ( SELECT midyear_population, country_code FROM bigquery-public-data.census_bureau_international.midyear_population WHERE year = 2017) pop ON age.country_code = pop.country_code GROUP BY 1, 3 ORDER BY 4 DESC /* Remove limit for visualization*/ LIMIT 10

Sample Query 3

The International Census dataset contains growth information in the form of birth rates, death rates, and migration rates. Net migration is the net number of migrants per 1,000 population, an important component of total population and one that often drives the work of the United Nations Refugee Agency. This query joins the growth rate table with the area table to retrieve 2017 data for countries greater than 500 km2.

SELECT growth.country_name, growth.net_migration, CAST(area.country_area AS INT64) AS country_area FROM ( SELECT country_name, net_migration, country_code FROM bigquery-public-data.census_bureau_international.birth_death_growth_rates WHERE year = 2017) growth INNER JOIN ( SELECT country_area, country_code FROM bigquery-public-data.census_bureau_international.country_names_area

Update frequency

Historic (none)

Dataset source

United States Census Bureau

Terms of use: This dataset is publicly available for anyone to use under the following terms provided by the Dataset Source - http://www.data.gov/privacy-policy#data_policy - and is provided "AS IS" without any warranty, express or implied, from Google. Google disclaims all liability for any damages, direct or indirect, resulting from the use of the dataset.

See the GCP Marketplace listing for more details and sample queries: https://console.cloud.google.com/marketplace/details/united-states-census-bureau/international-census-data

Tunisia TN: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data was reported at 35.314 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 34.999 % for 2016. Tunisia TN: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data is updated yearly, averaging 66.027 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 92.534 % in 1966 and a record low of 33.566 % in 2011. Tunisia TN: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Tunisia – Table TN.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Age dependency ratio, young, is the ratio of younger dependents--people younger than 15--to the working-age population--those ages 15-64. Data are shown as the proportion of dependents per 100 working-age population.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on age distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; 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.

Global Educational Attainment Among Young Adults by Country, 2023 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

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

license: apache-2.0 tags: - africa - sustainable-development-goals - world-health-organization - development

  Children and young people achieving a minimum proficiency level in reading (%) - Primary education





  Dataset Description

This dataset provides country-level data for the indicator "4.1.1 Children and young people achieving a minimum proficiency level in reading (%) - Primary education" across African nations, sourced from the World Health Organization's… See the full description on the dataset page: https://huggingface.co/datasets/electricsheepafrica/children-and-young-people-achieving-a-minimum-proficiency-le-for-african-countries.

Nigeria NG: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data was reported at 82.602 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 82.925 % for 2016. Nigeria NG: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data is updated yearly, averaging 82.468 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 87.186 % in 1987 and a record low of 74.878 % in 1960. Nigeria NG: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Nigeria – Table NG.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Age dependency ratio, young, is the ratio of younger dependents--people younger than 15--to the working-age population--those ages 15-64. Data are shown as the proportion of dependents per 100 working-age population.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on age distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; Weighted average;

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

The results of a survey about the Arab youth on which Arab country has increased its influence in the Arab world the most over the past five years across Middle East and North Africa in 2020 shows that ** percent of respondents were said to believe Saudi Arabia was the Arab country with the most increased influence in the Arab world in the past five years.

Timor-Leste was the country in the world with the lowest labor force participation rate among young men in 2022, reaching only ** percent. Djibouti, Somalia, and Niger followed behind.

Sweden SE: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data was reported at 28.065 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 27.721 % for 2016. Sweden SE: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data is updated yearly, averaging 29.016 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 34.088 % in 1960 and a record low of 25.290 % in 2010. Sweden SE: Age Dependency Ratio: % of Working-Age Population: Young data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Sweden – Table SE.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Age dependency ratio, young, is the ratio of younger dependents--people younger than 15--to the working-age population--those ages 15-64. Data are shown as the proportion of dependents per 100 working-age population.; ; World Bank staff estimates based on age distributions of United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision.; Weighted average;