List of African countries by population

Source	UN (World Population Prospects 2019)
Date	11 Oct 2021

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Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, followed by Ethiopia and Egypt. These three countries have a total number of humans above 100 mn. The top ten countries together hold a 61% share of the Africa population. As of 2021, 32 countries have a population above 10 million. The least populous country in Africa is Seychelles. Saint Helena is the least populous region in Africa. Eight countries/dependent territories in Africa have a population below one million.

Only one African country is in the list of the top ten most populous countries globally as it hosts Nigeria, the world's 7th most populous country. Fourteen countries are within the top 50 world population ranking.

Out of 58 countries/territories, None of the countries would see a population decrease in 2021 compared to 2020. Nigeria would be the top contributor to the total population increment in 2021. Nigeria accounts for 16 percent of the total population increase in Africa. Nigeria's population would increase by 5.26 million, followed by Ethiopia (2.9 mn) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2.8 mn). Nine countries will add at least one mn humans in 2021.

Niger would have the highest population growth rate of 3.82% in 2021. Six countries in Africa have a growth rate above 3%. Eight countries have a growth rate above 2%. Nine countries are on the list of the world's top 10 fastest-growing nations. Only six countries have a growth rate below 1%.

DR Congo, which is currently at 3rd position, will surpass Egypt by 2050 and Ethiopia by 2100 to become the 2nd most populous country in Africa.

In 1950, Western Sahara was the least populous country in Africa. Now Seychelles will remain the least populous country until 2100.

Population
Growth rate (%)
Choropleth Map
Bubble Map

Population (UN)
Country/Region	Population		Share (%)		Rank		Growth (2021)		Growth Rank
Country/Region	2020	2021	Africa	World	Africa	World	Net	%	Africa	World
Burundi	11,890,781	12,255,429	0.892	0.156	30	78	364,648	3.07	5	6
Comoros	869,595	888,456	0.0647	0.0113	52	163	18,861	2.17	35	46
Djibouti	988,002	1,002,197	0.0730	0.0127	50	160	14,195	1.44	47	74
Eritrea	3,546,427	3,601,462	0.262	0.0457	40	133	55,035	1.55	45	67
Ethiopia	114,963,583	117,876,226	8.58	1.50	2	12	2,912,643	2.53	24	27
Kenya	53,771,300	54,985,702	4.00	0.698	7	26	1,214,402	2.26	34	43
Madagascar	27,691,019	28,427,333	2.07	0.361	15	51	736,314	2.66	20	22
Malawi	19,129,955	19,647,681	1.43	0.249	21	61	517,726	2.71	16	18
Mauritius	1,271,767	1,273,428	0.0927	0.0162	48	157	1,661	0.13	58	193
Mayotte	272,813	279,507	0.0204	0.00355	55	186	6,694	2.45	27	31
Mozambique	31,255,435	32,163,045	2.34	0.408	13	46	907,610	2.90	13	14
Réunion	895,308	901,696	0.0657	0.0115	51	162	6,388	0.71	55	140
Rwanda	12,952,209	13,276,517	0.967	0.169	28	76	324,308	2.50	26	29
Seychelles	98,340	98,910	0.00720	0.00126	57	200	570	0.58	56	152
Somalia	15,893,219	16,359,500	1.19	0.208	25	73	466,281	2.93	10	11
South Sudan	11,193,729	11,381,377	0.829	0.145	32	83	187,648	1.68	44	62
Uganda	45,741,000	47,123,533	3.43	0.598	8	30	1,382,533	3.02	6	7
United Republic of Tanzania	59,734,213	61,498,438	4.48	0.781	5	23	1,764,225	2.95	9	10
Zambia	18,383,956	18,920,657	1.38	0.240	22	65	536,701	2.92	11	12
Zimbabwe	14,862,927	15,092,171	1.10	0.192	26	74	229,244	1.54	46	70
Angola	32,866,268	33,933,611	2.47	0.431	12	43	1,067,343	3.25	3	4
Cameroon	26,545,864	27,224,262	1.98	0.346	16	52	678,398	2.56	22	25
Central African Republic	4,829,764	4,919,987	0.358	0.0625	38	125	90,223	1.87	41	55
Chad	16,425,859	16,914,985	1.23	0.215	24	72	489,126	2.98	8	9
Congo	5,518,092	5,657,017	0.412	0.0718	36	116	138,925	2.52	25	28
Democratic Republic of the Congo	89,561,404	92,377,986	6.73	1.17	4	16	2,816,582	3.14	4	5
Equatorial Guinea	1,402,985	1,449,891	0.106	0.0184	47	153	46,906	3.34	2	3
Gabon	2,225,728	2,278,829	0.166	0.0289	44	146	53,101	2.39	33	37
Sao Tome and Principe	219,161	223,364	0.0163	0.00284	56	187	4,203	1.92	39	53
Botswana	2,351,625	2,397,240	0.175	0.0304	43	145	45,615	1.94	38	50
Eswatini	1,160,164	1,172,369	0.0854	0.0149	49	159	12,205	1.05	52	104
Lesotho	2,142,252	2,159,067	0.157	0.0274	45	147	16,815	0.78	54	134
Namibia	2,540,916	2,587,344	0.188	0.0329	41	143	46,428	1.83	42	59
South Africa	59,308,690	60,041,996	4.37	0.762	6	25	733,306	1.24	49	90
Benin	12,123,198	12,451,031	0.907	0.158	29	77	327,833	2.70	17	19
Burkina Faso	20,903,278	21,497,097	1.57	0.273	19	59	593,819	2.84	14	15
Cabo Verde	555,988	561,901	0.0409	0.00714	54	172	5,913	1.06	51	103
Côte d'Ivoire	26,378,275	27,053,629	1.97	0.344	17	53	675,354	2.56	21	24
Gambia	2,416,664	2,486,937	0.181	0.0316	42	144	70,273	2.91	12	13
Ghana	31,072,945	31,732,128	2.31	0.403	14	47	659,183	2.12	36	47
Guinea	13,132,792	13,497,237	0.983	0.171	27	75	364,445	2.78	15	16
Guinea-Bissau	1,967,998	2,015,490	0.147	0.0256	46	150	47,492	2.41	31	35
Liberia	5,057,677	5,180,208	0.377	0.0658	37	122	122,531	2.42	29	33
Mali	20,250,834	20,855,724	1.52	0.265	20	60	604,890	2.99	7	8
Mauritania	4,649,660	4,775,110	0.348	0.0606	39	127	125,450	2.70	19	21
Niger	24,206,636	25,130,810	1.83	0.319	18	56	924,174	3.82	1	2
Nigeria	206,139,587	211,400,704	15.4	2.68	1	7	5,261,117	2.55	23	26
Saint Helena	6,071	6,095	0.00044	0.00008	58	229	24	0.40	57	168
Senegal	16,743,930	17,196,308	1.25	0.218	23	69	452,378	2.70	18	20
Sierra Leone	7,976,985	8,141,343	0.593	0.103	34	103	164,358	2.06	37	48
Togo	8,278,737	8,478,242	0.617	0.108	33	102	199,505	2.41	32	36
Algeria	43,851,043	44,616,626	3.25	0.567	10	34	765,583	1.75	43	60
Egypt	102,334,403	104,258,327	7.59	1.32	3	14	1,923,924	1.88	40	54
Libya	6,871,287	6,958,538	0.507	0.0884	35	107	87,251	1.27	48	87
Morocco	36,910,558	37,344,787	2.72	0.474	11	40	434,229	1.18	50	95
Sudan	43,849,269	44,909,351	3.27	0.570	9	33	1,060,082	2.42	30	34
Tunisia	11,818,618	11,935,764	0.869	0.152	31	79	117,146	0.99	53	109
Western Sahara	597,330	611,872	0.0445	0.00777	53	170	14,542	2.43	28	32
Africa	1,340,598,113	1,373,486,472		17.44			32,888,359	2.45

Projected population (UN)
Country/Region	1950		2000		2050		2100
Country/Region	Population	Rank	Population	Rank	Population	Rank	Population	Rank
Burundi	2,308,927	29	6,378,871	31	25,324,770	27	50,904,072	25
Comoros	159,459	52	542,358	52	1,471,738	49	2,186,509	48
Djibouti	62,000	53	717,577	50	1,295,368	50	1,331,656	51
Eritrea	822,347	39	2,292,413	40	6,005,492	40	9,061,777	39
Ethiopia	18,128,030	3	66,224,809	3	205,410,671	2	294,392,903	3
Kenya	6,076,757	9	31,964,557	7	91,575,092	6	125,423,855	10
Madagascar	4,083,548	18	15,766,806	16	54,048,131	14	99,957,340	12
Malawi	2,953,871	21	11,148,751	21	38,142,971	22	66,559,386	22
Mauritius	493,258	44	1,185,147	47	1,185,525	51	827,303	53
Mayotte	15,138	56	150,331	55	494,851	55	745,691	54
Mozambique	5,958,982	10	17,711,925	13	65,312,931	12	123,646,947	11
Réunion	248,114	49	736,714	49	1,009,875	52	901,249	52
Rwanda	2,186,183	32	7,933,688	29	23,048,001	30	33,412,643	29
Seychelles	36,325	55	80,998	57	104,561	57	88,327	57
Somalia	2,264,076	30	8,872,250	26	34,922,449	23	75,716,429	20
South Sudan	2,482,306	27	6,199,396	32	19,962,715	31	31,738,064	30
Uganda	5,158,191	12	23,650,159	11	89,446,901	7	136,784,876	9
United Republic of Tanzania	7,649,765	8	33,499,177	6	129,386,845	5	285,651,846	4
Zambia	2,310,436	28	10,415,942	23	39,120,906	21	81,546,198	16
Zimbabwe	2,746,852	22	11,881,482	18	23,947,921	29	30,965,421	31
Angola	4,548,021	15	16,395,477	15	77,420,355	9	188,283,132	6
Cameroon	4,307,021	16	15,513,944	17	50,573,036	17	90,225,178	14
Central African Republic	1,326,660	35	3,640,421	36	8,400,954	39	11,631,410	38
Chad	2,502,321	25	8,355,654	27	34,031,310	24	61,849,820	24
Congo	827,246	38	3,127,420	37	10,701,991	35	20,961,987	33
Democratic Republic of the Congo	12,183,662	5	47,105,830	4	194,488,663	3	362,031,082	2
Equatorial Guinea	225,530	50	606,180	51	2,820,923	46	4,510,631	45
Gabon	473,296	45	1,228,359	45	3,809,049	43	5,859,225	42
Sao Tome and Principe	59,998	54	142,264	56	394,163	56	708,097	55
Botswana	412,541	46	1,643,333	43	3,509,813	45	4,165,861	46
Eswatini	272,997	48	1,005,432	48	1,704,428	48	2,145,198	49
Lesotho	704,686	40	2,032,805	41	2,665,265	47	2,695,438	47
Namibia	514,378	43	1,794,583	42	3,981,125	42	5,373,589	44
South Africa	13,628,434	4	44,967,713	5	75,517,909	10	79,190,832	18
Benin	2,255,222	31	6,865,946	30	24,280,484	28	47,208,998	26
Burkina Faso	4,284,455	17	11,607,951	19	43,432,174	20	83,194,233	15
Cabo Verde	178,064	51	428,178	53	679,399	54	603,949	56
Côte d'Ivoire	2,630,131	23	16,454,660	14	51,263,670	16	96,632,721	13
Gambia	304,895	47	1,317,708	44	4,882,099	41	8,175,553	40
Ghana	5,036,151	13	19,278,850	12	52,016,123	15	79,011,409	19
Guinea	3,012,938	20	8,240,735	28	25,971,807	26	45,256,876	27
Guinea-Bissau	535,438	42	1,201,305	46	3,557,202	44	5,706,289	43
Liberia	930,022	37	2,848,447	38	9,339,755	36	15,525,036	36
Mali	4,708,425	14	10,946,448	22	43,585,533	19	80,382,697	17
Mauritania	651,434	41	2,630,217	39	9,024,891	37	17,064,607	34
Niger	2,559,706	24	11,331,561	20	65,593,043	11	164,947,337	7
Nigeria	37,859,750	1	122,283,853	1	401,314,997	1	732,941,596	1
Saint Helena	5,249	58	6,054	58	5,781	58	4,496	58
Senegal	2,486,642	26	9,797,731	24	33,186,850	25	63,515,357	23
Sierra Leone	2,041,201	33	4,584,570	35	12,944,875	34	16,675,197	35
Togo	1,395,451	34	4,924,406	34	15,415,505	32	26,949,191	32
Algeria	8,872,250	7	31,042,238	8	60,923,390	13	70,704,619	21
Egypt	20,451,988	2	68,831,561	2	159,956,809	4	224,735,180	5
Libya	1,124,519	36	5,357,893	33	8,525,412	38	8,011,540	41
Morocco	8,985,986	6	28,793,672	9	46,165,497	18	44,707,864	28
Sudan	5,733,789	11	27,275,019	10	81,192,821	8	142,342,356	8
Tunisia	3,605,312	19	9,708,347	25	13,796,600	33	12,972,285	37
Western Sahara	13,763	57	314,116	54	984,024	53	1,383,773	50