Population density in Africa

54 countries in Africa, 2023. Unit: people per km² of land. World ranking →

First in the ranking
625.3 /km²
Mauritius
Median country
68.7 /km²
half above, half below
World
62.1 /km²
World Bank aggregate
Range
3.6 to 625.3
Namibia - Mauritius

How to read it

Across 54 countries in Africa, the highest value is in Mauritius (625.3 /km²) and the lowest in Namibia (3.6 /km²).

The median country is at 68.7 /km²: half are above, half below.

Population density is midyear population divided by land area in square kilometers. Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship--except for refugees not permanently settled in the country of asylum, who are generally considered part of the population of their country of origin. Land area is a country's total area, excluding area…

Compare selected countries · on the world map

Source: FAO population estimates, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations… · via World Bank WDI (EN.POP.DNST) · licence

Population density over time

/km²

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Ranking of countries

2023
In chart Share of the highest value
1Mauritius625.3
2Rwanda565.6
3Burundi533.1
4Comoros457.0
5The Gambia266.6
6Seychelles260.4
7Nigeria250.2
8Uganda242.7
9São Tomé and Principe240.5
10Malawi223.8
11Togo151.2
12Ghana148.5
13Cabo Verde129.6
14Benin125.1
15Sierra Leone117.2
16Egypt115.1
17Ethiopia114.0
18Côte d'Ivoire98.0
19Kenya95.3
20Senegal93.9
21Morocco84.5
22Burkina Faso84.2
23Tunisia78.5
24Guinea-Bissau76.6
25Lesotho76.1
26Tanzania75.2
27Eswatini71.5
28Equatorial Guinea65.9
29Cameroon60.0
30Guinea58.6
31Liberia57.0
32Madagascar53.6
33South Africa52.1
34Djibouti49.7
35Democratic Republic of the Congo46.7
36Mozambique42.8
37Zimbabwe42.2
38Angola29.5
39Somalia29.3
40Eritrea28.6
41Zambia27.9
42Sudan26.8
43Niger20.7
44Mali19.5
45Algeria19.4
46South Sudan18.2
47Republic of the Congo18.1
48Chad15.3
49Gabon9.6
50Central African Republic8.3
51Mauritania4.9
52Botswana4.4
53Libya4.2
54Namibia3.6
World Bank, WDI · EN.POP.DNST · 2023 · CC BY 4.0 Source and licence

Tick a country in the table to add it to the chart above, up to six at a time. The ranking uses the latest year for which at least half of the countries have a value; countries without a value that year are not listed.