The population size in Africa has crossed 1.5 billion, showing tremendous growth in the last six decades, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) said in a report.
The UNECA said the global population was around 3 billion in 1960.
In just two decades (by 1982), it had surpassed 5 billion and since November 2022, there are more than 8 billion people in the world.
“Africa’s population has expanded from 283 million in 1960 to more than 1.5 billion in 2024 – a more than five-fold increase—and it is projected to increase by 950 million and touch 2.5 billion by 2050,” the report, which was released on Wednesday, said.
According to it, Africa’s share of the world population is forecast to reach 28 percent by 2050, up from 10 percent in 1960. Globally, more than 1 in 4 people will be African in 2050, from 1 in 11 in 1960.
Of the eight countries that will account for more than half of the global population growth between now and 2050, five of them are in Africa, namely the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Tanzania.
Reasons for Africa’s rapid population growth …
Infant mortality has declined from 145 per 1,000 children born in 1960 to 38 per 1,000 children born in 2024. As a result, average life expectancy in Africa increased from 43 years to 66 years in this period and is projected to increase to 70 years by 2050.
Yet, many countries in West and Central Africa have a life expectancy below 64 years, which is the final year at which people are typically assumed to still be of working age.
In 1960, on average, a woman in Africa had 6.6 children over her lifetime. This has progressively reduced to 3.8 in 2024 and is expected to decline further to 2.6 by 2050. Overall, and compared to other regions of the world, fertility rates in Africa remain high and are declining only gradually.
While a few countries are farther along the transition with fertility rates below replacement levels (Cabo Verde, Mauritius, and Tunisia), seven countries have very high fertility rates of 5 and above (see table). The correlation between high fertility and low per capita income is inescapable – six of the seven are low-income countries.
Distribution of population matters more than just the size
Even as the proportion of the youth population (15–24 years old) will decline from 19.4 percent in 2024 to 17.5 percent in 2050, in absolute terms, Africa will add 138 million to its youth population in this period, and by 2050, one in every three young people globally will be African. Africa’s working-age population (20–64 years old) will increase from 883 million in 2024 to 1.6 billion in 2050 and constitute almost 25 percent of the global working-age population.
Somaliland population
In April of this year announcement by the Somaliland government, it was revealed that the population of Somaliland has reached 6.2 million as of 2024. This marks a significant increase from the previous estimate of 5.7 million in 2021, indicating a notable growth trend in the country.
