“The biggest change of our time?” he tweeted. “Africa’s increase from 1 to 4 billion people!” Four billion people before 2100, meaning that Africa will have a population on par with Asia.
–Africa’s population explosion will change humanity – Business Insider
The last 100 years have seen an incredible increase in the planet’s population. Some parts of the world are now seeing smaller increments of growth, and some, such as Japan, Germany, and Spain, are actually experiencing population decreases.
The continent of Africa, however, is not following this pattern. Now home to 1.2 billion (up from just 477 million in 1980), Africa is projected by the United Nations Population Division to see a slight acceleration of annual population growth in the immediate future.
By 2100, Africa will contribute 82% of total growth: 3.2 billion of the overall increase of 3.8 billion people. Under some projections, Nigeria will add more people to the world’s population by 2050 than any other country. The dynamics at play are straightforward.
–Population growth in Africa: grasping the scale of the challenge …
–an-infographic-mapping-the-largest-african-nations
| Rank | Country (or dependent territory) |
July 1, 2015 projection |
% of pop. |
Average relative annual growth (%) |
Average absolute annual growth |
Estimated doubling time (Years) |
Official figure (where available) |
Date of last figure |
Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
182,202,000 | 15.98 | 2.91 | 4,731,000 | 24 | 173,000,000 | 2013 | Official estimate |
| 2 |  |
99,391,000 | 7.81 | 2.41 | 2,424,000 | 29 | 99,391,000 | 2015 | Official estimate |
| 3 |  |
94,274,751 | 7.68 | 2.29 | 1,981,000 | 31 | 92,300,000 | December 24, 2016 | Official population clock |
| 4 |  |
77,267,000 | 6.70 | 3.13 | 2,390,000 | 22 | 77,267,000 | July 1, 2015 | Official estimate |
| 5 |  |
54,957,000 | 4.77 | 1.61 | 873,000 | 43 | 54,956,900 | July 1, 2015 | Official estimate |
| 6 |  |
51,046,000 | 4.23 | 2.97 | 1,416,000 | 24 | 51,046,000 | 2015 | Official estimate |
| 7 |  |
45,533,000 | 3.84 | 2.87 | 1,196,000 | 24 | 45,533,000 | 2015 | Official estimate |
| 8 |  |
40,235,000 | 3.33 | 3.07 | 912,000 | 23 | 40,235,000 | 2015 | Official estimate |
| 9 |  |
40,100,000 | 3.46 | 2.07 | 768,000 | 34 | 40,100,000 | January 1, 2016 | Official estimate |
| 10 |  |
37,102,000 | 3.10 | 3.09 | 1,206,000 | 23 | 34,856,813 | August 28, 2014 | Preliminary 2014 census result |
| 11 |  |
34,380,000 | 3.33 | 1.24 | 412,000 | 56 | 33,337,529 | September 1, 2014 | Preliminary 2014 census result |
| 12 |  |
28,013,000 | 2.23 | 2.74 | 702,000 | 26 | 28,013,000 | 2015 | Official estimate |
| 13 |  |
27,414,000 | 2.40 | 2.48 | 621,000 | 28 | 27,043,093 | 2014 | Official estimate |
| 14 |  |
25,326,000 | 2.20 | 3.43 | 839,000 | 21 | 24,383,301 | May 16, 2014 | Preliminary 2014 census result |
| 15 |  |
23,126,000 | 2.02 | 2.55 | 451,000 | 27 | 22,671,331 | May 15, 2014 | Preliminary 2014 census result |
| 16 |  |
23,043,000 | 2.00 | 2.71 | 609,000 | 26 | 22,434,363 | 2014 | Official estimate |
| 17 |  |
21,918,000 | 1.90 | 2.65 | 565,000 | 27 | 21,917,602 | 2015 | Official estimate |
| 18 |  |
18,880,000 | 1.64 | 3.86 | 701,000 | 18 | 17,138,707 | December 10, 2012 | Final 2012 census result |
| 19 |  |
18,450,000 | 1.60 | 3.26 | 582,000 | 22 | 18,450,494 | 2015 | Official estimate |
| 20 |  |
17,796,000 | 1.54 | 3.30 | 568,000 | 21 | 14,528,662 | April 1, 2009 | Final 2009 census result |
| 21 |  |
16,307,000 | 1.41 | 3.18 | 502,000 | 22 | 16,832,900 | July 1, 2016 | Official estimate |
| 22 |  |
15,474,000 | 1.34 | 3.00 | 451,000 | 23 | 15,473,905 | 2015 | Official estimate |
| 23 |  |
14,150,000 | 1.23 | 2.92 | 401,000 | 24 | 14,354,690 | 2015 | Official estimate |
| 24 |  |
13,675,000 | 1.19 | 3.57 | 471,000 | 20 | 11,039,873 | May 20, 2009 | Final 2009 census result |
| 25 |  |
13,503,000 | 1.17 | 1.17 | 156,000 | 60 | 13,061,239 | August 17, 2012 | Final 2012 census result |
| 26 |  |
12,519,000 | 1.09 | 5.95 | 703,000 | 12 | 8,260,490 | April 22, 2008 | 2008 census result |
| 27 |  |
11,324,000 | 0.98 | 2.61 | 288,000 | 27 | 10,515,973 | August 15, 2012 | Final 2012 census result |
| 28 |  |
11,118,000 | 0.96 | 1.04 | 114,000 | 67 | 10,982,754 | April 23, 2014 | Preliminary 2014 census result |
| 29 |  |
10,972,000 | 0.95 | 1.54 | 166,000 | 45 | 12,316,895 | January 1, 2014 | Official estimate |
| 30 |  |
10,935,000 | 0.95 | 2.30 | 246,000 | 30 | 10,628,972 | April 2, 2014 | Preliminary 2014 census result |
| 31 |  |
10,782,000 | 0.93 | 3.54 | 369,000 | 20 | 10,008,749 | May 11, 2013 | Final 2013 census result |
| 32 |  |
9,824,000 | 0.85 | 2.93 | 280,000 | 24 | 9,823,828 | 2015 | Official estimate |
| 33 |  |
7,065,000 | 0.61 | 2.87 | 197,000 | 25 | 6,191,155 | November 6, 2010 | Final 2010 census result |
| 34 |  |
6,895,000 | 0.60 | 5.49 | 359,000 | 13 | 6,536,000 | July 1, 2014 | Official estimate |
| 35 |  |
6,513,000 | 0.56 | 2.57 | 163,000 | 27 | 6,348,350 | 2014 | Official estimate |
| 36 |  |
6,278,000 | 0.54 | 1.13 | 70,000 | 62 | 5,298,152 | April 15, 2006 | 2006 census result |
| 37 |  |
4,900,000 | 0.42 | 2.00 | 96,000 | 35 | 3,859,139 | December 8, 2003 | 2003 census result |
| 38 |  |
4,706,000 | 0.41 | 2.98 | 136,000 | 24 | 3,697,490 | April 28, 2007 | 2007 census result |
| 39 |  |
4,046,000 | 0.35 | 2.09 | 83,000 | 33 | 3,476,608 | March 21, 2008 | Final 2008 census result |
| 40 |  |
3,632,000 | 0.31 | 2.43 | 86,000 | 29 | 3,718,678 | 2016 | Official estimate |
| 41 |  |
2,281,000 | 0.20 | 2.01 | 45,000 | 35 | 2,280,700 | July 1, 2015 | Official estimate |
| 42 |  |
2,176,000 | 0.19 | 1.92 | 41,000 | 36 | 2,024,904 | August 22, 2011 | Final 2011 census result |
| 43 |  |
2,022,000 | 0.18 | 3.27 | 64,000 | 22 | 1,882,450 | April 15, 2013 | Preliminary 2013 census result |
| 44 |  |
1,996,000 | 0.17 | 4.23 | 81,000 | 17 | 1,222,442 | July 4, 2015 | Preliminary 2015 census result |
| 45 |  |
1,908,000 | 0.17 | 0.21 | 4,000 | 330 | 1,894,194 | 2011 | Official estimate |
| 46 |  |
1,873,000 | 0.16 | 1.85 | 34,000 | 38 | 1,802,278 | October 5, 2013 | Preliminary 2013 census result |
| 47 |  |
1,788,000 | 0.16 | 2.58 | 45,000 | 27 | 1,530,673 | 2015 | Official estimate |
| 48 |  |
1,263,000 | 0.11 | 0.16 | 2,000 | 437 | 1,261,208 | July 1, 2014 | Official estimate |
| 49 |  |
1,119,000 | 0.10 | 1.18 | 13,000 | 59 | 1,119,375 | 2015 | Official estimate |
| 50 |  |
961,000 | 0.08 | 2.67 | 25,000 | 26 | 864,618 | July 1, 2011 | Official estimate |
| 51 |  |
853,000 | 0.07 | 0.71 | 6,000 | 98 | 840,974 | January 1, 2013 | Official estimate |
| 52 |  |
783,000 | 0.07 | 2.62 | 20,000 | 27 | 806,200 | July 1, 2016 | Official estimate |
| 53 |  |
525,000 | 0.05 | 1.35 | 7,000 | 52 | 491,875 | June 16, 2010 | Final 2010 census result |
| 54 | Western Sahara | 509,000 | 0.04 | 1.80 | 9,000 | 39 | 510,713 | September 2, 2014 | Preliminary 2014 census result |
| 55 | |
229,000 | 0.02 | 2.69 | 6,000 | 26 | 212,600 | August 21, 2012 | 2012 census result |
| 56 |  |
194,000 | 0.02 | 2.65 | 5,000 | 27 | 179,200 | May 13, 2012 | Final 2012 census result |
| 57 |  |
97,000 | 0.01 | 1.04 | 1,000 | 67 | 90,945 | August 26, 2010 | Final 2010 census result |
| 58 |  |
4,000 | <0.01 | 0.0 | 0 | – | 4,255 | February 10, 2008 | 2008 census result |
| Total | 1,153,308,000 | 100.00 | 2.68 | 30,155,000 | 26 |
How will a population boom change Africa? – BBC News – BBC.com
African demography: The young continent | The Economist
Other statistics seems to vary more or less:
African countries by Population 2015 – StatisticsTimes.com