Ethiopia vs South Africa: Population growth

Population growth in 2023: 2.59% a year in Ethiopia and 1.32% a year in South Africa, by UN estimates. In 2023 the value was higher in Ethiopia, by 1.27 percentage points, or 1.97 times that in South Africa.

Watch it change on the map

% a year · UN

EthiopiaSouth AfricaUN projection (medium variant)95% prediction intervalWorld

What the numbers say

Ethiopia has been higher since 1987, when it overtook South Africa.
In 2023, Ethiopia ranked 22 and South Africa ranked 87 of 229 countries, counting from the highest.
The UN projection (medium variant) puts Ethiopia at 0.48% a year and South Africa at 0.23% a year in 2100.
The world as a whole: 0.87% a year in 2023.

Every year

% a year · UN

Year	Ethiopia	South Africa	World
2023	2.59	1.32	0.87
2022	2.62	1.34	0.88
2021	2.62	1.49	0.8
2020	2.72	1.6	0.9
2019	2.7	1.65	1.03
2018	2.69	1.65	1.07
2017	2.71	1.72	1.13
2016	2.74	-0.42	1.17
2015	2.67	2.31	1.18
2014	2.7	1.7	1.22
2013	2.67	1.62	1.23
2012	2.77	1.69	1.27
2011	2.84	1.26	1.26
2010	2.85	1.21	1.27
2009	2.82	1.15	1.28
2008	2.86	1.24	1.28
2007	2.93	1.07	1.28
2006	2.93	1.04	1.28
2005	2.95	1	1.27
2004	2.99	1.02	1.28
2003	3	0.99	1.29
2002	3.04	1	1.3
2001	3.05	0.89	1.33
2000	3.02	0.83	1.35
1999	3.12	1	1.35
1998	3.13	1.18	1.37
1997	3.15	1.25	1.39
1996	3.26	1.15	1.42
1995	3.34	1.45	1.45
1994	3.47	0.98	1.47
1993	3.49	2.27	1.52
1992	3.54	1.7	1.57
1991	4.91	1.89	1.63
1990	3.73	2.69	1.76
1989	3.67	2.88	1.78
1988	4.02	3	1.79
1987	3.79	3.09	1.84
1986	3.01	3.15	1.83
1985	2.9	3.25	1.8
1984	2.73	3.42	1.8
1983	2.47	3.5	1.78
1982	3.13	3.48	1.86
1981	4.67	3.43	1.82
1980	0.3	3.38	1.8
1979	0.81	2.7	1.79
1978	2.17	2.71	1.74
1977	1.21	2.75	1.75
1976	2.65	2.66	1.78
1975	2.39	2.75	1.8
1974	2.5	2.79	1.88
1973	2.68	2.85	1.94
1972	2.64	2.87	1.97
1971	2.7	2.87	1.97
1970	2.77	2.99	2.06
1969	2.75	3.07	2.06
1968	2.76	3.11	2.09
1967	2.77	3.13	2
1966	2.51	3.11	2.04
1965	2.71	3.09	2.09
1964	2.66	3.06	2.16
1963	2.61	3.05	2.28
1962	2.55	3.02	2.11
1961	2.49	2.93	1.67
1960	2.4	2.68	1.58
1959	2.32	2.56	1.73
1958	1.52	2.43	2
1957	1.49	2.44	2.07
1956	2.06	2.39	1.98
1955	2.01	2.33	2.01
1954	1.96	2.26	1.99
1953	1.89	2.17	1.9
1952	1.88	2.16	1.94
1951	1.83	2.1	1.75
1950	1.74	2.01	1.74

UN projection (medium variant) · 2024–2100

Year	Ethiopia	South Africa	World
2024	2.581.41–3.76	1.190.34–1.98	0.86
2025	2.521.28–3.69	1.120.23–2.01	0.84
2026	2.481.21–3.64	1.050.1–1.94	0.83
2027	2.451.15–3.74	1.040.12–1.97	0.81
2028	2.380.88–3.64	1.030.07–2.02	0.8
2029	2.360.98–3.63	0.990.04–1.9	0.78
2030	2.31–3.6	0.94-0.03–1.93	0.76
2031	2.260.95–3.6	0.920–1.95	0.75
2032	2.220.9–3.57	0.9-0.06–1.9	0.73
2033	2.150.77–3.55	0.87-0.12–1.84	0.72
2034	2.120.72–3.44	0.84-0.19–1.83	0.7
2035	2.090.74–3.45	0.83-0.15–1.82	0.69
2036	2.050.72–3.3	0.8-0.19–1.74	0.67
2037	2.010.62–3.29	0.79-0.26–1.8	0.65
2038	1.980.62–3.36	0.76-0.27–1.73	0.64
2039	1.950.61–3.3	0.73-0.31–1.74	0.62
2040	1.920.55–3.23	0.73-0.37–1.71	0.61
2041	1.880.56–3.21	0.72-0.33–1.73	0.59
2042	1.860.48–3.16	0.71-0.31–1.81	0.57
2043	1.840.49–3.14	0.7-0.31–1.75	0.56
2044	1.810.47–3.12	0.68-0.34–1.72	0.54
2045	1.770.48–3.12	0.67-0.35–1.76	0.52
2046	1.750.4–3.05	0.68-0.29–1.74	0.5
2047	1.730.36–3.09	0.66-0.38–1.71	0.48
2048	1.690.34–3.07	0.62-0.43–1.66	0.46
2049	1.650.28–3.12	0.61-0.42–1.71	0.44
2050	1.610.19–3.02	0.6-0.46–1.66	0.42
2051	1.620.25–3.03	0.6-0.43–1.72	0.4
2052	1.560.14–3.01	0.56-0.46–1.69	0.38
2053	1.520.11–2.94	0.54-0.51–1.6	0.36
2054	1.50.18–3	0.54-0.55–1.62	0.34
2055	1.450.07–2.92	0.52-0.56–1.6	0.33
2056	1.460.02–2.98	0.5-0.6–1.6	0.31
2057	1.40.06–2.87	0.5-0.66–1.66	0.3
2058	1.36-0.12–2.87	0.49-0.58–1.71	0.28
2059	1.37-0.03–2.91	0.47-0.66–1.64	0.27
2060	1.34-0.11–2.89	0.46-0.65–1.62	0.25
2061	1.32-0.19–2.78	0.44-0.69–1.57	0.24
2062	1.27-0.18–2.75	0.44-0.73–1.59	0.23
2063	1.24-0.27–2.79	0.43-0.75–1.56	0.22
2064	1.22-0.27–2.77	0.42-0.74–1.6	0.21
2065	1.18-0.3–2.78	0.39-0.74–1.52	0.2
2066	1.16-0.37–2.72	0.39-0.76–1.53	0.19
2067	1.16-0.26–2.81	0.37-0.8–1.52	0.18
2068	1.11-0.32–2.67	0.36-0.86–1.53	0.17
2069	1.09-0.37–2.69	0.35-0.89–1.54	0.16
2070	1.06-0.42–2.63	0.38-0.87–1.6	0.15
2071	1.04-0.47–2.65	0.37-0.83–1.6	0.14
2072	1.03-0.48–2.62	0.32-0.85–1.52	0.13
2073	0.99-0.52–2.48	0.32-0.88–1.45	0.12
2074	0.99-0.52–2.62	0.32-0.92–1.58	0.1
2075	0.97-0.6–2.61	0.31-0.94–1.44	0.09
2076	0.94-0.64–2.56	0.3-0.96–1.37	0.08
2077	0.92-0.73–2.58	0.31-0.93–1.51	0.07
2078	0.89-0.68–2.56	0.31-0.93–1.53	0.06
2079	0.84-0.77–2.34	0.3-1.05–1.53	0.05
2080	0.83-0.77–2.46	0.3-1.01–1.52	0.04
2081	0.81-0.78–2.38	0.3-0.99–1.52	0.03
2082	0.81-0.82–2.42	0.29-1.04–1.49	0.02
2083	0.77-0.97–2.29	0.29-1.04–1.51	0.01
2084	0.75-0.85–2.43	0.27-1.01–1.55	-0
2085	0.74-0.82–2.34	0.25-1.1–1.51	-0.01
2086	0.73-0.91–2.33	0.28-1.09–1.53	-0.02
2087	0.68-0.94–2.26	0.27-1.06–1.54	-0.03
2088	0.64-1.02–2.26	0.26-1.13–1.51	-0.04
2089	0.63-1.07–2.3	0.26-1.11–1.51	-0.05
2090	0.64-0.98–2.4	0.25-1.16–1.52	-0.05
2091	0.61-1.12–2.31	0.27-1.09–1.45	-0.06
2092	0.58-1.27–2.24	0.24-1.17–1.46	-0.07
2093	0.58-1.21–2.17	0.24-1.19–1.54	-0.07
2094	0.57-1.12–2.29	0.24-1.21–1.48	-0.08
2095	0.54-1.2–2.26	0.22-1.12–1.52	-0.09
2096	0.56-1.18–2.25	0.21-1.14–1.48	-0.1
2097	0.53-1.13–2.22	0.2-1.23–1.49	-0.11
2098	0.5-1.26–2.2	0.22-1.19–1.5	-0.11
2099	0.47-1.26–2.16	0.22-1.1–1.46	-0.12
2100	0.48-1.32–2.17	0.23-1.2–1.45	-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

Ethiopia vs South Africa

Health

People

Economy

Education

Politics

Conflict

Deaths in conflictsEthiopia: 102,900 deaths in 2022South Africa: 0 deaths in 2022