Demographics · Africa ranking
Population by African country
232.68MNigeria leads · 2024
Total mid-year population. Latest reported value for 54 of 54 countries, ranked. Every row links to the full national series with history and sources.
Full ranking
| # | Country | Population | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nigeria | 232.68M | 2024 |
| 2 | Ethiopia | 132.06M | 2024 |
| 3 | Egypt | 116.54M | 2024 |
| 4 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 109.28M | 2024 |
| 5 | Tanzania | 68.56M | 2024 |
| 6 | South Africa | 64.01M | 2024 |
| 7 | Kenya | 56.43M | 2024 |
| 8 | Sudan | 50.45M | 2024 |
| 9 | Uganda | 50.02M | 2024 |
| 10 | Algeria | 46.81M | 2024 |
| 11 | Morocco | 38.08M | 2024 |
| 12 | Angola | 37.89M | 2024 |
| 13 | Mozambique | 34.63M | 2024 |
| 14 | Ghana | 34.43M | 2024 |
| 15 | Madagascar | 31.96M | 2024 |
| 16 | Cote d'Ivoire | 31.93M | 2024 |
| 17 | Cameroon | 29.12M | 2024 |
| 18 | Niger | 27.03M | 2024 |
| 19 | Mali | 24.48M | 2024 |
| 20 | Burkina Faso | 23.55M | 2024 |
| 21 | Malawi | 21.66M | 2024 |
| 22 | Zambia | 21.31M | 2024 |
| 23 | Chad | 20.3M | 2024 |
| 24 | Somalia | 19.01M | 2024 |
| 25 | Senegal | 18.5M | 2024 |
| 26 | Zimbabwe | 16.63M | 2024 |
| 27 | Guinea | 14.75M | 2024 |
| 28 | Benin | 14.46M | 2024 |
| 29 | Rwanda | 14.26M | 2024 |
| 30 | Burundi | 14.05M | 2024 |
| 31 | Tunisia | 12.28M | 2024 |
| 32 | South Sudan | 11.94M | 2024 |
| 33 | Togo | 9.52M | 2024 |
| 34 | Sierra Leone | 8.64M | 2024 |
| 35 | Libya | 7.38M | 2024 |
| 36 | Republic of the Congo | 6.33M | 2024 |
| 37 | Liberia | 5.61M | 2024 |
| 38 | Central African Republic | 5.33M | 2024 |
| 39 | Mauritania | 5.17M | 2024 |
| 40 | Eritrea | 3.54M | 2024 |
| 41 | Namibia | 3.03M | 2024 |
| 42 | Gambia | 2.76M | 2024 |
| 43 | Gabon | 2.54M | 2024 |
| 44 | Botswana | 2.52M | 2024 |
| 45 | Lesotho | 2.34M | 2024 |
| 46 | Guinea-Bissau | 2.2M | 2024 |
| 47 | Equatorial Guinea | 1.89M | 2024 |
| 48 | Mauritius | 1.25M | 2024 |
| 49 | Eswatini | 1.24M | 2024 |
| 50 | Djibouti | 1.17M | 2024 |
| 51 | Comoros | 866.63K | 2024 |
| 52 | Cabo Verde | 524.88K | 2024 |
| 53 | Sao Tome and Principe | 235.54K | 2024 |
| 54 | Seychelles | 121.35K | 2024 |
Get this ranking via API
One call to /v1/data returns the latest Population figure for every country you pass — JSON, with source metadata on each observation.
curl "https://api.africa-api.com/v1/data?metric_key=population_total&latest=true&country_codes=NG,KE,ZA,EG" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $AFRICA_API_KEY"Frequently asked questions
Which African country has the highest total population?
Nigeria has the highest total population in Africa at 232.68M (2024), followed by Ethiopia and Egypt.
How many African countries report Population data?
54 of 54 African countries have a recent Population figure in the Africa API. Each value links to the country's full series with source and history.
How do I get this ranking via API?
Call GET /v1/data?metric_key=population_total&latest=true with the country codes you need and a free Africa API key — the response returns the latest value per country as JSON.