Africa’s Population 1880–2026

How has Africa’s population changed since 1880? Explore 146 years through an interactive top-15 ranking and a historical map, from colonial expansion and independence to Africa in 2026.

Press play, drag the timeline or choose a year to follow changing populations, borders and country identities. Violet-to-peach shading shows where people are concentrated, and historical flags follow the timeline. Use the country lookup to highlight smaller states, or open fullscreen for a closer look.

Follow Nigeria and South Africa’s unification, Italian East Africa, the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, and the emergence of independent Eritrea and South Sudan. During modeled conflicts and territorial changes, people move between the populations assigned to controlling territories without being counted twice. Which change surprised you most?

About the data

The underlying annual population series covers the 54 African UN member states plus Western Sahara from 1880 to 2026. These modern statistical footprints supply the population totals used to reconstruct dated countries, colonies and temporary administrations. Egypt includes Sinai. Western Sahara remains a separate statistical territory; territorial labels and symbols are not assertions of sovereignty.

Population before 1950 comes from Gapminder via Our World in Data. From 1950 onward, the series uses UN World Population Prospects 2024 estimates, with medium projections for 2024–2026. Historical figures are estimates, and some missing early observations are interpolated between documented anchors. Historical regional populations are allocated using population-density weights and selected census calibrations.

Numbers and borders transition smoothly between observations. Intermediate frontiers, campaigns and selected occupations are schematic reconstructions, not exact daily maps. The model does not include every colonial subdivision, local border award or civil-war front. Some early groups of territories use a neutral geographic marker where no verified common flag is available.

Density shading uses HYDE’s gridded population estimates through 2015. Later years retain the latest spatial pattern rather than showing observed local density in 2026. The chart and map use the same population sampler as the video.

Sources and credits

• Historical population: Our World in Data and Gapminder v7.
• Population estimates and projections: UN World Population Prospects 2024, distributed through Our World in Data.
• Density: HYDE 3.2.1, Klein Goldewijk et al., CC BY 3.0. Cropped, reprojected, recoloured and interpolated for this display.
• Historical boundaries: Cliopatria, Seshat Global History Databank, CC BY 4.0. Adapted with reviewed territorial assignments, date corrections and simplified web geometry.
• Coastlines and administrative geometry: Natural Earth, public domain.

Explore more interactive histories in Visuals, including Asia’s population, Europe’s population, and the richest people.