Afghanistan vs Iran: Population growth

Population growth in 2023: 2.85% a year in Afghanistan and 1.12% a year in Iran, by UN estimates. In 2023 the value was higher in Afghanistan, by 1.73 percentage points, or 2.55 times that in Iran.

Watch it change on the map

% a year · UN

AfghanistanIranUN projection (medium variant)95% prediction intervalWorld

What the numbers say

Afghanistan has been higher since 2008, when it overtook Iran.
In 2023, Afghanistan ranked 16 and Iran ranked 101 of 229 countries, counting from the highest.
The UN projection (medium variant) puts Afghanistan at 0.42% a year and Iran at -0.67% a year in 2100.
The world as a whole: 0.87% a year in 2023.

Every year

% a year · UN

Year	Afghanistan	Iran	World
2023	2.85	1.12	0.87
2022	1.41	1.29	0.88
2021	1.46	1.11	0.8
2020	3.27	0.55	0.9
2019	3.03	0.99	1.03
2018	2.94	1.17	1.07
2017	2.89	1.38	1.13
2016	2.73	1.5	1.17
2015	2.34	1.37	1.18
2014	3.93	1.35	1.22
2013	3.33	1.33	1.23
2012	3.51	1.28	1.27
2011	4.61	1.22	1.26
2010	2.74	1.25	1.27
2009	3.13	1.25	1.28
2008	4.18	1.23	1.28
2007	0.15	1.2	1.28
2006	3.67	2.08	1.28
2005	4.53	2.23	1.27
2004	2.47	2.19	1.28
2003	4.72	2.08	1.29
2002	7.66	0.12	1.3
2001	2.72	1.54	1.33
2000	-1.21	1.55	1.35
1999	3.66	1.4	1.35
1998	3.8	1.45	1.37
1997	3.73	1.3	1.39
1996	3.88	1.1	1.42
1995	4.14	1.06	1.45
1994	5.69	1.16	1.47
1993	11.33	-0.78	1.52
1992	12.35	1.49	1.57
1991	3.62	2.47	1.63
1990	-0.47	2.97	1.76
1989	3.36	2.86	1.78
1988	2.62	2.99	1.79
1987	-0.27	3.48	1.84
1986	-0.29	3.7	1.83
1985	0.17	3.68	1.8
1984	4.05	3.66	1.8
1983	0.83	3.86	1.78
1982	-2.16	3.92	1.86
1981	-13.88	6.74	1.82
1980	-6.14	3.68	1.8
1979	-1.2	3.57	1.79
1978	1.85	3.31	1.74
1977	2.17	3.23	1.75
1976	2.09	2.96	1.78
1975	2.34	3.07	1.8
1974	2.49	2.98	1.88
1973	2.57	2.94	1.94
1972	2.5	2.91	1.97
1971	2.38	2.94	1.97
1970	2.48	3.04	2.06
1969	2.41	3.04	2.06
1968	2.37	2.97	2.09
1967	2.35	3.02	2
1966	2.26	3.07	2.04
1965	2.28	3.16	2.09
1964	2.19	3.12	2.16
1963	2.13	3.11	2.28
1962	2.08	3.03	2.11
1961	2.01	3.04	1.67
1960	1.91	2.97	1.58
1959	1.79	2.92	1.73
1958	1.53	2.72	2
1957	1.6	2.68	2.07
1956	1.55	2.69	1.98
1955	1.49	2.62	2.01
1954	1.39	2.52	1.99
1953	1.34	2.46	1.9
1952	1.37	2.48	1.94
1951	1.36	2.46	1.75
1950	1.28	2.46	1.74

UN projection (medium variant) · 2024–2100

Year	Afghanistan	Iran	World
2024	2.83-2.13–6.91	0.99-0.18–2.02	0.86
2025	2.71-2.95–7.66	0.86-0.4–2	0.84
2026	2.71-3.05–7.54	0.76-0.61–1.91	0.83
2027	2.61-2.82–7.6	0.67-0.6–1.82	0.81
2028	2.57-3.08–7.73	0.6-0.74–1.84	0.8
2029	2.65-2.96–7.94	0.55-0.74–1.77	0.78
2030	2.67-2.99–7.96	0.51-0.85–1.66	0.76
2031	2.61-3.11–8.27	0.49-0.84–1.72	0.75
2032	2.52-3.39–8.02	0.46-0.83–1.68	0.73
2033	2.49-3.33–8.01	0.44-0.87–1.64	0.72
2034	2.32-3.66–7.5	0.43-0.95–1.64	0.7
2035	2.28-3.65–7.42	0.41-0.9–1.69	0.69
2036	2.28-3.64–7.34	0.4-0.92–1.65	0.67
2037	2.24-3.65–7.64	0.38-1.01–1.7	0.65
2038	2.16-3.72–7.48	0.37-1–1.61	0.64
2039	2.24-3.62–7.34	0.35-0.98–1.64	0.62
2040	2.24-3.65–7.48	0.34-0.93–1.59	0.61
2041	2.1-3.77–7.42	0.32-0.96–1.61	0.59
2042	1.94-3.7–7.21	0.3-1.02–1.61	0.57
2043	2-3.73–7.3	0.28-1.05–1.54	0.56
2044	1.91-3.76–7.16	0.26-1.11–1.61	0.54
2045	1.89-3.71–7.01	0.24-1.16–1.5	0.52
2046	1.96-3.63–6.97	0.22-1.16–1.54	0.5
2047	1.84-3.9–7.1	0.19-1.3–1.48	0.48
2048	1.84-3.54–6.94	0.16-1.24–1.46	0.46
2049	1.92-3.51–7.11	0.13-1.26–1.38	0.44
2050	1.68-4.21–6.63	0.1-1.28–1.4	0.42
2051	1.6-3.96–6.86	0.06-1.37–1.44	0.4
2052	1.71-4.01–6.71	0.03-1.44–1.38	0.38
2053	1.7-4.34–6.63	-0.01-1.43–1.33	0.36
2054	1.68-4.18–6.71	-0.05-1.48–1.26	0.34
2055	1.66-4.25–6.7	-0.09-1.43–1.23	0.33
2056	1.67-4.06–6.7	-0.13-1.6–1.32	0.31
2057	1.63-4.21–6.68	-0.16-1.59–1.24	0.3
2058	1.54-4.41–6.57	-0.2-1.65–1.18	0.28
2059	1.42-4.46–6.41	-0.24-1.71–1.12	0.27
2060	1.44-4.18–6.2	-0.28-1.72–1.01	0.25
2061	1.36-4.51–6.35	-0.31-1.8–1.08	0.24
2062	1.45-4.4–6.44	-0.35-1.8–1.01	0.23
2063	1.42-4.51–6.35	-0.38-1.8–1	0.22
2064	1.45-4.04–6.74	-0.41-1.94–0.92	0.21
2065	1.43-4.48–6.6	-0.44-1.9–0.87	0.2
2066	1.27-4.86–6.27	-0.47-2.01–0.9	0.19
2067	1.24-4.58–6.16	-0.49-2.1–0.91	0.18
2068	1.31-4.4–6.59	-0.52-2.08–0.9	0.17
2069	1.22-4.91–6.28	-0.54-2.08–0.89	0.16
2070	1.28-4.66–6.36	-0.56-2.2–0.87	0.15
2071	1.11-4.63–5.93	-0.58-2.23–0.8	0.14
2072	1.13-4.98–6.28	-0.6-2.1–0.82	0.13
2073	1.18-4.39–6.23	-0.61-2.3–0.73	0.12
2074	1.06-5.27–6.19	-0.62-2.26–0.81	0.1
2075	0.94-5.18–5.97	-0.64-2.22–0.88	0.09
2076	0.97-5.41–5.97	-0.64-2.26–0.87	0.08
2077	0.97-4.89–6.08	-0.65-2.26–0.8	0.07
2078	0.88-5.4–6.17	-0.65-2.27–0.82	0.06
2079	1.01-5.54–6.2	-0.66-2.34–0.88	0.05
2080	0.9-5.15–6.16	-0.66-2.44–0.82	0.04
2081	0.77-5.67–5.99	-0.65-2.39–0.78	0.03
2082	0.75-5.8–5.8	-0.65-2.39–0.74	0.02
2083	0.72-5.9–6.11	-0.65-2.35–0.82	0.01
2084	0.83-5.85–6.05	-0.64-2.35–0.85	-0
2085	0.74-6.12–5.83	-0.64-2.24–0.82	-0.01
2086	0.63-5.74–5.93	-0.63-2.35–0.78	-0.02
2087	0.72-5.65–5.88	-0.63-2.43–0.91	-0.03
2088	0.66-5.89–5.94	-0.62-2.4–0.89	-0.04
2089	0.64-5.87–5.78	-0.62-2.54–0.94	-0.05
2090	0.7-5.82–5.92	-0.61-2.37–0.82	-0.05
2091	0.61-5.72–5.79	-0.61-2.35–0.98	-0.06
2092	0.59-5.84–5.89	-0.61-2.45–0.88	-0.07
2093	0.58-6.52–5.67	-0.62-2.51–0.82	-0.07
2094	0.56-6.28–5.61	-0.62-2.53–0.96	-0.08
2095	0.52-6.1–5.53	-0.63-2.47–0.93	-0.09
2096	0.51-6.3–5.59	-0.63-2.52–0.9	-0.1
2097	0.52-6.21–5.6	-0.64-2.52–0.91	-0.11
2098	0.51-6.36–5.95	-0.64-2.53–0.94	-0.11
2099	0.5-6.48–5.74	-0.66-2.59–0.84	-0.12
2100	0.42-6.41–5.78	-0.67-2.63–0.98	-0.13

Each country on its own

Good to know

How fast the population grew or shrank in a year: births minus deaths, plus people moving in minus people moving out.
Source: UN DESA, World Population Prospects 2024.
The dashed line is the UN projection (medium variant), a scenario rather than a forecast; the band is its 95% prediction interval.
Ranks count the 229 countries with a value in 2023, highest first.
The faint line is the world as a whole, as the same source counts it.

How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Countries through time

Afghanistan vs Iran: Population growth

What the numbers say

Every year

Each country on its own

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