Mauritania vs Western Sahara: Population growth

Population growth in 2023: 2.95% a year in Mauritania and 1.88% a year in Western Sahara, by UN estimates. In 2023 the value was higher in Mauritania, by 1.07 percentage points, or 1.57 times that in Western Sahara.

Watch it change on the map

% a year · UN

MauritaniaWestern SaharaUN projection (medium variant)95% prediction intervalWorld

What the numbers say

Mauritania has been higher since 2014, when it overtook Western Sahara.
In 2023, Mauritania ranked 13 and Western Sahara ranked 55 of 229 countries, counting from the highest.
The UN projection (medium variant) puts Mauritania at 0.61% a year and Western Sahara at -0.11% a year in 2100.
The world as a whole: 0.87% a year in 2023.

Every year

% a year · UN

Year	Mauritania	Western Sahara	World
2023	2.95	1.88	0.87
2022	2.98	1.95	0.88
2021	2.87	1.64	0.8
2020	2.9	1.7	0.9
2019	2.94	2.32	1.03
2018	2.97	2.44	1.07
2017	2.98	2.55	1.13
2016	2.99	2.67	1.17
2015	3	2.79	1.18
2014	3.01	2.91	1.22
2013	3.02	3.62	1.23
2012	3.26	3.68	1.27
2011	3.27	3.69	1.26
2010	3.22	3.68	1.27
2009	3.16	3.66	1.28
2008	3.1	3.63	1.28
2007	2.65	3.84	1.28
2006	2.55	4.07	1.28
2005	2.46	4.01	1.27
2004	2.39	4.14	1.28
2003	2.31	4.28	1.29
2002	2.27	4.45	1.3
2001	2.15	4.65	1.33
2000	2.79	4.86	1.35
1999	2.78	4.91	1.35
1998	2.57	5.12	1.37
1997	2.62	5.33	1.39
1996	1.83	5.57	1.42
1995	2.13	5.05	1.45
1994	3.37	2.68	1.47
1993	3.42	2.79	1.52
1992	4.7	2.93	1.57
1991	2.93	3.07	1.63
1990	2.92	3.25	1.76
1989	2.14	3.11	1.78
1988	2.89	3.33	1.79
1987	2.89	3.34	1.84
1986	2.87	3.55	1.83
1985	2.89	3.71	1.8
1984	2.88	3.83	1.8
1983	2.88	3.94	1.78
1982	2.88	4.96	1.86
1981	2.88	6.7	1.82
1980	2.85	8.99	1.8
1979	2.83	13.59	1.79
1978	2.84	15.36	1.74
1977	2.83	16.93	1.75
1976	2.93	19.81	1.78
1975	2.94	-26.36	1.8
1974	2.97	-2.15	1.88
1973	2.98	-0.89	1.94
1972	3	-0.66	1.97
1971	3.02	-0.55	1.97
1970	3.05	20.16	2.06
1969	3.05	9.34	2.06
1968	3.04	9.95	2.09
1967	3.02	10.19	2
1966	2.98	6.57	2.04
1965	2.92	6.72	2.09
1964	2.85	6.95	2.16
1963	2.79	7.13	2.28
1962	2.71	7.33	2.11
1961	2.65	7.55	1.67
1960	2.58	7.67	1.58
1959	2.5	7.87	1.73
1958	2.44	8.05	2
1957	2.38	8.13	2.07
1956	2.32	8.44	1.98
1955	2.25	8.59	2.01
1954	2.19	8.71	1.99
1953	2.13	8.95	1.9
1952	2.08	8.7	1.94
1951	2.03	9.23	1.75
1950	1.94	9.1	1.74

UN projection (medium variant) · 2024–2100

Year	Mauritania	Western Sahara	World
2024	2.821.86–3.73	1.80.83–2.84	0.86
2025	2.741.71–3.66	1.690.34–3.08	0.84
2026	2.691.62–3.72	1.580.02–3.16	0.83
2027	2.641.5–3.7	1.51-0.29–3.38	0.81
2028	2.611.43–3.62	1.45-0.53–3.54	0.8
2029	2.581.42–3.6	1.39-0.67–3.57	0.78
2030	2.551.36–3.6	1.38-0.83–3.81	0.76
2031	2.511.28–3.62	1.29-1.13–3.76	0.75
2032	2.481.24–3.55	1.26-1.29–4.05	0.73
2033	2.451.13–3.46	1.2-1.53–3.98	0.72
2034	2.411.21–3.54	1.1-1.83–3.95	0.7
2035	2.371.1–3.53	1.1-1.88–4.01	0.69
2036	2.331.06–3.47	1.04-1.78–4.12	0.67
2037	2.291.1–3.45	0.98-2.03–3.97	0.65
2038	2.261.01–3.41	0.96-2.1–4.1	0.64
2039	2.220.92–3.42	0.93-2.2–4.12	0.62
2040	2.180.86–3.35	0.91-2.26–4	0.61
2041	2.150.86–3.31	0.89-2.58–4.34	0.59
2042	2.140.89–3.33	0.86-2.5–4.35	0.57
2043	2.110.89–3.31	0.81-2.72–4.33	0.56
2044	2.070.88–3.24	0.76-3–6.19	0.54
2045	2.040.78–3.26	0.73-3.04–6.29	0.52
2046	2.010.75–3.28	0.67-3.14–6.06	0.5
2047	1.970.73–3.26	0.64-3.16–5.9	0.48
2048	1.950.65–3.21	0.57-3.08–4.71	0.46
2049	1.90.61–3.2	0.6-3.16–6.34	0.44
2050	1.860.61–3.14	0.57-3.22–6.42	0.42
2051	1.850.57–3.14	0.53-3.31–6.25	0.4
2052	1.820.57–3.15	0.53-3.3–6.41	0.38
2053	1.780.51–3.06	0.49-3.44–6.38	0.36
2054	1.740.47–3.08	0.47-3.48–6.25	0.34
2055	1.710.46–3.07	0.42-3.51–5.91	0.33
2056	1.670.33–3.06	0.36-3.46–4.98	0.31
2057	1.650.39–3.03	0.35-3.5–4.99	0.3
2058	1.640.39–3.08	0.3-3.63–4.97	0.28
2059	1.610.32–3.02	0.25-3.69–4.9	0.27
2060	1.560.28–2.98	0.25-3.58–4.83	0.25
2061	1.540.24–2.96	0.26-3.67–5.24	0.24
2062	1.510.23–2.97	0.23-3.77–5.06	0.23
2063	1.480.15–2.87	0.2-3.78–5.05	0.22
2064	1.480.18–2.9	0.19-3.89–5.16	0.21
2065	1.430.14–2.86	0.19-3.83–5.15	0.2
2066	1.420.08–2.87	0.15-3.8–5.15	0.19
2067	1.40.09–2.84	0.16-3.8–4.82	0.18
2068	1.35-0.05–2.85	0.11-3.7–5.08	0.17
2069	1.34-0.05–2.87	0.08-3.76–5.09	0.16
2070	1.3-0.06–2.87	0.12-3.76–5.07	0.15
2071	1.29-0.11–2.87	0.05-3.72–5.07	0.14
2072	1.25-0.1–2.83	0.09-3.62–5.17	0.13
2073	1.22-0.1–2.83	0.12-3.63–5.11	0.12
2074	1.2-0.14–2.81	0.1-3.63–5.12	0.1
2075	1.18-0.17–2.81	0.1-3.63–5.06	0.09
2076	1.15-0.2–2.73	0.1-3.63–5.37	0.08
2077	1.13-0.15–2.69	0.08-3.59–5.07	0.07
2078	1.11-0.3–2.62	0.14-3.69–5.2	0.06
2079	1.06-0.32–2.55	0.1-3.64–5.05	0.05
2080	1.04-0.31–2.67	0.09-3.53–4.87	0.04
2081	1.03-0.37–2.63	0.08-3.47–5.11	0.03
2082	1-0.35–2.54	0.09-3.56–5.07	0.02
2083	0.98-0.45–2.61	0.06-3.29–5.18	0.01
2084	0.95-0.46–2.6	0.05-3.4–5.14	-0
2085	0.93-0.51–2.54	0.04-3.39–5.21	-0.01
2086	0.91-0.48–2.52	0.07-3.39–5.27	-0.02
2087	0.9-0.55–2.55	0.02-3.25–5.45	-0.03
2088	0.87-0.52–2.53	0.04-3.24–5.56	-0.04
2089	0.84-0.63–2.52	-0.01-3.18–5.25	-0.05
2090	0.82-0.66–2.53	-0.01-3.03–5.24	-0.05
2091	0.8-0.68–2.5	-0.02-3–5.18	-0.06
2092	0.77-0.72–2.4	-0.03-2.97–5.26	-0.07
2093	0.75-0.78–2.46	-0.06-3.17–6.86	-0.07
2094	0.73-0.78–2.39	-0.07-3.09–5.77	-0.08
2095	0.7-0.83–2.44	-0.07-3.19–5.69	-0.09
2096	0.7-0.82–2.48	-0.05-3.12–4.7	-0.1
2097	0.67-0.93–2.45	-0.07-2.93–4.68	-0.11
2098	0.66-0.9–2.5	-0.1-3.05–5.65	-0.11
2099	0.62-0.9–2.36	-0.09-3.01–4.58	-0.12
2100	0.61-0.89–2.45	-0.11-3.06–4.85	-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

Mauritania vs Western Sahara: Population growth

What the numbers say

Every year

Each country on its own

Good to know

Mauritania vs Western Sahara

Health

People

Conflict