List of African countries by population

This is a list of African countries and dependent territories sorted by population, which is sorted by the 2015 mid-year normalized demographic projections.

Table

Rank	Country (or dependent territory)	July 1, 2015 projection[1]	% of pop.	Average relative annual growth (%)[2]	Average absolute annual growth [3]	Estimated doubling time (Years)[4]	Official figure (where available)	Date of last figure	Source
1	Nigeria	184,000,000	15.98	2.91	5,205,000	24	174,000,000	2013	Official estimate
2	Ethiopia	90,076,000	7.81	2.41	2,123,000	29	90,076,012	2015	Official estimate
3	Egypt	88,523,000	7.68	2.29	1,981,000	31	90,914,000	May 7, 2016	Official population clock
4	Democratic Republic of the Congo	77,267,000	6.70	3.13	2,348,000	22	79,795,600	July 1, 2012	Official estimate
5	South Africa	54,957,000	4.77	1.61	873,000	43	54,956,900	July 1, 2015	Official estimate
6	Tanzania	48,829,000	4.23	2.97	1,407,000	24	47,421,786	2014	Official estimate
7	Kenya	44,234,000	3.84	2.87	1,234,000	24	43,000,000	2014	Official estimate
8	Algeria	39,903,000	3.46	2.07	808,000	34	40,400,000	January 1, 2016	Official estimate
9	Sudan	38,435,000	3.33	3.07	1,146,000	23	38,435,252	2015	Official estimate
10	Uganda	35,760,000	3.10	3.09	1,071,000	23	34,856,813	August 28, 2014	Preliminary 2014 census result
11	Morocco[5]	33,680,000	2.92	1.24	412,000	56	33,337,529	September 1, 2014	Preliminary 2014 census result
12	Ghana	27,714,000	2.40	2.48	671,000	28	27,043,093	2014	Official estimate
13	Mozambique	25,728,000	2.23	2.74	686,000	26	25,727,911	2015	Official estimate
14	Angola	25,326,000	2.20	3.43	839,000	21	24,383,301	May 16, 2014	Preliminary 2014 census result
15	Ivory Coast	23,326,000	2.02	2.55	581,000	27	22,671,331	May 15, 2014	Preliminary 2014 census result
16	Madagascar	23,043,000	2.00	2.71	609,000	26	22,434,363	2014	Official estimate
17	Cameroon	21,918,000	1.90	2.65	565,000	27	21,917,602	2015	Official estimate
18	Niger	18,880,000	1.64	3.86	701,000	18	17,138,707	December 10, 2012	Final 2012 census result
19	Burkina Faso	18,450,000	1.60	3.26	582,000	22	18,450,494	2015	Official estimate
20	Mali	17,796,000	1.54	3.30	568,000	21	14,528,662	April 1, 2009	Final 2009 census result
21	Malawi	16,307,000	1.41	3.18	502,000	22	16,832,900	July 1, 2016	Official estimate
22	Zambia	15,474,000	1.34	3.00	451,000	23	15,473,905	2015	Official estimate
23	Senegal	14,150,000	1.23	2.92	401,000	24	14,354,690	2015	Official estimate
24	Chad	13,675,000	1.19	3.57	471,000	20	11,039,873	May 20, 2009	Final 2009 census result
25	Zimbabwe	13,503,000	1.17	1.17	156,000	60	13,061,239	August 17, 2012	Final 2012 census result
26	South Sudan	12,519,000	1.09	5.95	703,000	12	8,260,490	April 22, 2008	2008 census result
27	Rwanda	11,324,000	0.98	2.61	288,000	27	10,515,973	August 15, 2012	Final 2012 census result
28	Tunisia	11,118,000	0.96	1.04	114,000	67	10,982,754	April 23, 2014	Preliminary 2014 census result
29	Somalia	10,972,000	0.95	1.54	166,000	45	12,316,895	January 1, 2014	Official estimate
30	Guinea	10,935,000	0.95	2.30	246,000	30	10,628,972	April 2, 2014	Preliminary 2014 census result
31	Benin	10,782,000	0.93	3.54	369,000	20	10,008,749	May 11, 2013	Final 2013 census result
32	Burundi	9,824,000	0.85	2.93	280,000	24	9,823,828	2015	Official estimate
33	Togo	7,065,000	0.61	2.87	197,000	25	6,191,155	November 6, 2010	Final 2010 census result
34	Eritrea	6,895,000	0.60	5.49	359,000	13	6,536,000	July 1, 2014	Official estimate
35	Sierra Leone	6,513,000	0.56	2.57	163,000	27	6,348,350	2014	Official estimate
36	Libya	6,278,000	0.54	1.13	70,000	62	5,298,152	April 15, 2006	2006 census result
37	Central African Republic	4,900,000	0.42	2.00	96,000	35	3,859,139	December 8, 2003	2003 census result
38	Republic of the Congo	4,706,000	0.41	2.98	136,000	24	3,697,490	April 28, 2007	2007 census result
39	Liberia	4,046,000	0.35	2.09	83,000	33	3,476,608	March 21, 2008	Final 2008 census result
40	Mauritania	3,632,000	0.31	2.43	86,000	29	3,718,678	2016	Official estimate
41	Namibia	2,281,000	0.20	2.01	45,000	35	2,280,700	July 1, 2015	Official estimate
42	Botswana	2,176,000	0.19	1.92	41,000	36	2,024,904	August 22, 2011	Final 2011 census result
43	Gambia	2,022,000	0.18	3.27	64,000	22	1,882,450	April 15, 2013	Preliminary 2013 census result
44	Equatorial Guinea	1,996,000	0.17	4.23	81,000	17	1,222,442	July 4, 2015	Preliminary 2015 census result
45	Lesotho	1,908,000	0.17	0.21	4,000	330	1,894,194	2011	Official estimate
46	Gabon	1,873,000	0.16	1.85	34,000	38	1,802,278	October 5, 2013	Preliminary 2013 census result
47	Guinea-Bissau	1,788,000	0.16	2.58	45,000	27	1,530,673	2015	Official estimate
48	Mauritius	1,263,000	0.11	0.16	2,000	437	1,261,208	July 1, 2014	Official estimate
49	Swaziland	1,119,000	0.10	1.18	13,000	59	1,119,375	2015	Official estimate
50	Djibouti	961,000	0.08	2.67	25,000	26	864,618	July 1, 2011	Official estimate
51	Réunion (France)	853,000	0.07	0.71	6,000	98	840,974	January 1, 2013	Official estimate
52	Comoros	783,000	0.07	2.62	20,000	27	806,200	July 1, 2016	Official estimate
53	Cape Verde	525,000	0.05	1.35	7,000	52	491,875	June 16, 2010	Final 2010 census result
54	Western Sahara[6]	509,000	0.04	1.80	9,000	39	510,713	September 2, 2014	Preliminary 2014 census result
55	Mayotte (France)	229,000	0.02	2.69	6,000	26	212,600	August 21, 2012	2012 census result
56	São Tomé and Príncipe	194,000	0.02	2.65	5,000	27	179,200	May 13, 2012	Final 2012 census result
57	Seychelles	97,000	0.01	1.04	1,000	67	90,945	August 26, 2010	Final 2010 census result
58	Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (UK)	4,000	0.00	0.00	0	-	4,255	February 10, 2008	2008 census result
	Total	1,153,308,000	100.00	2.68	30,155,000	26

African population by country (top 8).

  Nigeria (15.98%)

  Ethiopia (7.81%)

  Egypt (7.68%)

  Democratic Republic of the Congo (6.70%)

  South Africa (4.77%)

  Tanzania (4.23%)

  Kenya (3.84%)

  Algeria (3.46%)

  Other (45.53%)

See also

• List of countries by population
• List of countries in the Americas by population
• List of Arab countries by population
• List of Asian countries by population
• List of Caribbean island countries by population
• List of Eurasian countries by population
• List of European countries by population
• List of European Union member states by population
• List of Latin American countries by population
• List of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations by population
• List of Middle East countries by population
• List of North American countries by population
• List of Oceanian countries by population
• List of South American countries by population
• List of countries by past and future population
• List of countries by past population (United Nations)
• List of countries by population in 2000
• List of countries by population in 2010

Notes

1. Calculated, when available, from the latest national censuses or most recent official estimates (many of which are cited in their respective column), using the exponential formula shown on the List of countries by past and future population article. This is done to normalize the different populations to a unique date, so that they are really comparable.
2. It corresponds to the following formula: projection₂₀₁₅/projection₂₀₁₄x100-100.
3. It corresponds to the calculation: projection₂₀₁₅*annual_growth/100.
4. It corresponds to the formula: LN(2)/LN(growth/100+1), which produces exactly the same result as LOG₁₀(2)/LOG₁₀(growth/100+1).
5. It excludes the population of the disputed territory of the Western Sahara (the so-called Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. If it was included, the Moroccan September 2014 census would result in 33,848,242 inhabitants and its mid-2015 demographic projection would give some 34,198,000 inhab.
6. Administration is split between Morocco and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, both of which claim the entire territory.