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Demographics · Africa ranking

Population Density by African country

623.2/km²Mauritius leads · 2026

Mauritius has the highest population density of any African country, at 623.2/km², ahead of Rwanda and Burundi.

People per square kilometre of land area. 54 of 54 countries, ranked · UN World Population Prospects, 2026.

#1 vs #54163×Mauritius vs Namibia
Median70.7/km²Equatorial Guinea
Lowest3.8/km²Namibia

By region

regional average
East Africa228.2/km²
16 countries · led by Mauritius
West Africa114.5/km²
16 countries · led by Gambia
Central Africa59/km²
9 countries · led by Sao Tome and Principe
North Africa57/km²
6 countries · led by Egypt
Southern Africa41.3/km²
7 countries · led by Lesotho

Full ranking

54 of 54 countries
#CountryPopulation DensityPeriod
1Mauritius
623.2/km²2026
2Rwanda
615/km²2026
3Burundi
567.6/km²2026
4Comoros
483.1/km²2026
5Seychelles
295.3/km²2026
6Gambia
285/km²2026
7Nigeria
266.2/km²2026
8Uganda
264.1/km²2026
9Sao Tome and Principe
255.2/km²2026
10Malawi
241/km²2026
11Togo
182.6/km²2026
12Ghana
156.9/km²2026
13Ethiopia
138.9/km²2026
14Benin
134.5/km²2026
15Cabo Verde
131.4/km²2026
16Sierra Leone
125.4/km²2026
17Egypt
120.7/km²2026
18Cote d'Ivoire
105.3/km²2026
19Kenya
101/km²2026
20Senegal
100.6/km²2026
21Burkina Faso
89.9/km²2026
22Morocco
86.9/km²2026
23Tanzania
81.9/km²2026
24Guinea-Bissau
81.7/km²2026
25Tunisia
79.9/km²2026
26Lesotho
78.7/km²2026
27Eswatini
73.1/km²2026
28Equatorial Guinea
70.7/km²2026
29Cameroon
65.7/km²2026
30Guinea
62.8/km²2026
31Liberia
60.8/km²2026
32Madagascar
57.6/km²2026
33South Africa
53.6/km²2026
34Djibouti
51.7/km²2026
35Democratic Republic of the Congo
51.4/km²2026
36Mozambique
46.6/km²2026
37Zimbabwe
44.7/km²2026
38Somalia
32.4/km²2026
39Angola
32.3/km²2026
40Eritrea
30.4/km²2026
41Zambia
30.3/km²2026
42Sudan
30.2/km²2026
43Niger
22.7/km²2026
44South Sudan
22/km²2026
45Mali
21.3/km²2026
46Algeria
20.2/km²2026
47Republic of the Congo
19.4/km²2026
48Chad
17.1/km²2026
49Gabon
10.3/km²2026
50Central African Republic
9.1/km²2026
51Mauritania
5.3/km²2026
52Botswana
4.6/km²2026
53Libya
4.5/km²2026
54Namibia
3.8/km²2026

Get this ranking via API

GET /v1/data

One call to /v1/data returns the latest Population Density figure for every country you pass — JSON, with source metadata on each observation.

curl "https://api.africa-api.com/v1/data?metric_key=population_density_per_km2&latest=true&country_codes=NG,KE,ZA,EG" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AFRICA_API_KEY"

Cite or republish this ranking

Data: Africa APIUN World Population Prospects, 2026. Free to republish with a link to this page. Pull the live figures via the API above so your version never goes stale.

Embed this ranking

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Drop this chart into your article or site — it stays live as the data updates. Paste the snippet anywhere HTML is allowed (a citation link is included).

<iframe src="https://africa-api.com/embed/population-density" width="100%" height="560" loading="lazy" style="border:1px solid #e3e3e3;border-radius:10px;max-width:640px" title="Population Density by African country — Africa API"></iframe>
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Frequently asked questions

Which African country has the highest population density?

Mauritius has the highest population density in Africa at 623.2/km² (2026), followed by Rwanda and Burundi.

Which African country has the lowest population density?

Namibia has the lowest population density of the 54 African countries with data, at 3.8/km² (2026).

How many African countries report Population Density data?

54 of 54 African countries have a recent Population Density 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_density_per_km2&latest=true with the country codes you need and a free Africa API key — the response returns the latest value per country as JSON.

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