The 50 countries with the highest population growth in the world
Population growth is the rate that provides information about the change in the number of residents over a certain period of time. In addition to the fertility rate, other important factors for this population growth rate are the average life expectancy and the related birth and death rates. Other components influencing population growth are migration and refugee movements that exist between individual countries. In extreme cases, natural disasters and wars also have an impact on the development of a population. See cancermatters.net for the worlds most corrupt countries.
Ranking of the 50 countries with the highest population growth
Rank | Country | Growth of population (%) |
1 | Liberia (Africa) | 4.91 |
2 | Mayotte (Africa) | 3.77 |
3 | Burundi (Africa) | 3.70 |
4 | Kuwait (Asia) | 3.52 |
5 | Palestinian Territories (Asia) | 3.52 |
6 | Yemen (Asia) | 3.46 |
7 | Uganda (Africa) | 3.37 |
8 | Oman (Asia) | 3.28 |
9 | Sao Tome and Principe (Africa) | 3.15 |
10 | Democratic Republic of the Congo (Africa) | 3.07 |
11 | Madagascar (Africa) | 3.03 |
12 | Burkina Faso (Africa) | 3.00 |
13 | Chad (Africa) | 2.93 |
14 | Niger (Africa) | 2.92 |
15 | Mauritania (Africa) | 2.88 |
16 | Comoros (Africa) | 2.87 |
17 | Somalia (Africa) | 2.85 |
18 | Gambia (Africa) | 2.84 |
19 | Turks and Caicos Islands (North America) | 2.82 |
20 | Maldives (Asia) | 2.78 |
21 | Benin (Africa) | 2.73 |
22 | Togo (Africa) | 2.72 |
23 | Afghanistan (Asia) | 2.67 |
24 | Iraq (Asia) | 2.66 |
25 | Guinea (Africa) | 2.63 |
26 | Mali (Africa) | 2.63 |
27 | Solomon Islands (Australia-Oceania) | 2.61 |
28 | Congo (Africa) | 2.60 |
29 | Kenya (Africa) | 2.57 |
30 | Cayman Islands (North America) | 2.56 |
31 | Sudan (Africa) | 2.55 |
32 | Northern Mariana Islands (Australia-Oceania) | 2.54 |
33 | Qatar (Asia) | 2.50 |
34 | Jordan (Asia) | 2.49 |
35 | Eritrea (Africa) | 2.47 |
36 | Angola (Africa) | 2.45 |
37 | Paraguay (South America) | 2.45 |
38 | Rwanda (Africa) | 2.43 |
39 | Laos (Asia) | 2.39 |
40 | Malawi (Africa) | 2.38 |
41 | Nigeria (Africa) | 2.38 |
42 | Senegal (Africa) | 2.34 |
43 | Ethiopia (Africa) | 2.31 |
44 | Belize (North America) | 2.31 |
45 | Haiti (North America) | 2.30 |
46 | Libya (Africa) | 2.30 |
47 | Sierra Leone (Africa) | 2.30 |
48 | Syria, Arab Republic (Asia) | 2.30 |
49 | Guatemala (North America) | 2.27 |
50 | Marshall Islands (Australia-Oceania) | 2.25 |
This country comparison takes 221 countries into account.
Population growth (%) statistics
feature | value |
Number of countries covered | 221 |
average | 1.30 |
Median | 1.29 |
minimum | -0.87 |
maximum | 4.91 |
Standard deviation | 1.07 |
Slowly increasing population growth before the industrial revolution
For a long time, from the agricultural to the industrial revolution, population growth was at a very low level. However, the industrial revolution was accompanied by great technological and medical advances, which increased the population from 1800 to 1900 by approximately 0.5 percent. An important reason for this development was the lower mortality of newborns. As a result, population growth increased again significantly at the beginning of the 20th century. A preliminary high point was reached in 1962 when the world population increased by up to 2.1 percent.
The billion range was first exceeded at the beginning of the 19th century
Since this year the growth rate has been reduced step by step. In 2017, for example, population growth was 1.16 percent. However, even these small percentages have a significant impact on the total size of the world’s population. At the beginning of the 19th century, the world population exceeded billions for the first time. During the 20th century the number of residents increased from 1.7 to 6.1 billion residents. But this trend is unlikely to continue in the future. According to experts, global population growth will gradually slow down. However, this trend does not rule out that the number of people will not continue to grow. The UN is currently forecasting a world population rate of 9.8 billion people in 2050.
A dramatic increase in the world population in the 20th century
A comparison of the world population rates from 1950 to 2018 suggests that the world population increased from 2.5 to 7.6 billion people during this period. The population has tripled in this period. Two exceptions are the two countries that even had a lower world population in 2018 than in 1950 – the Vatican State and Bulgaria. Current statistics also show that developing countries are experiencing particularly rapid population growth. These forecasts are based on the so-called World Population Prospects of the United Nations from 2017.
High rates of increase in the African region
An analysis of the top 10 list of countries with the greatest population growth shows that this rate increases the highest in African countries. This development is also compatible with other statistics. After all, various African countries also have the highest birth rate. In some cases, the world population in countries such as Oman, Bahrain or Niger will increase by around four percent from 2015 to 2020. If you look at the development of the population in Germany as a comparison, the differences become clearly visible. Because over the same period experts in Germany are only assuming an increase of 0.20 percent. In general, European countries rank in the middle and lower range when analyzing the world population rate.
The 50 countries with the lowest population growth in the world
Ranking of the 50 countries with the lowest population growth
Rank | Country | Growth of population (%) |
1 | Trinidad and Tobago (North America) | -0.87 |
2 | Bulgaria (Europe) | -0.86 |
3 | Latvia (Europe) | -0.67 |
4 | Estonia (Europe) | -0.64 |
5 | Ukraine (Europe) | -0.60 |
6 | Lesotho (Africa) | -0.46 |
7 | South Africa (Africa) | -0.40 |
8 | Russia (Europe) | -0.37 |
9 | Georgia (Asia) | -0.34 |
10 | Lithuania (Europe) | -0.30 |
11 | Hungary (Europe) | -0.25 |
12 | Swaziland (Africa) | -0.23 |
13 | Samoa (Australia-Oceania) | -0.20 |
14 | American Samoa (Australia-Oceania) | -0.19 |
15 | Armenia (Asia) | -0.19 |
16 | Romania (Europe) | -0.12 |
17 | Micronesia (Australia-Oceania) | -0.11 |
18 | Dominica (North America) | -0.08 |
19 | Czech Republic (Europe) | -0.06 |
20 | Belarus (Europe) | -0.06 |
21 | Poland (Europe) | -0.05 |
22 | Slovenia (Europe) | -0.05 |
23 | Botswana (Africa) | -0.04 |
24 | Greenland (North America) | -0.03 |
25 | Croatia (Europe) | -0.03 |
26 | Germany (Europe) | -0.02 |
27 | Japan (Asia) | 0.02 |
28 | Italy (Europe) | 0.04 |
29 | Austria (Europe) | 0.09 |
30 | Belgium (Europe) | 0.13 |
31 | Spain (Europe) | 0.13 |
32 | Finland (Europe) | 0.14 |
33 | Gibraltar (Europe) | 0.14 |
34 | Slovakia (Europe) | 0.15 |
35 | Sweden (Europe) | 0.16 |
36 | St. Pierre and Miquelon (North America) | 0.17 |
37 | Greece (Europe) | 0.18 |
38 | Suriname (South America) | 0.20 |
39 | Guyana (South America) | 0.25 |
40 | Grenada (North America) | 0.26 |
41 | Guernsey (Europe) | 0.26 |
42 | Macedonia (Europe) | 0.26 |
43 | St. Vincent and the Grenadines (North America) | 0.26 |
44 | Great Britain (Europe) | 0.28 |
45 | Jersey (Europe) | 0.28 |
46 | Moldova (Europe) | 0.28 |
47 | Cuba (North America) | 0.31 |
48 | Denmark (Europe) | 0.33 |
49 | Kazakhstan (Asia) | 0.33 |
50 | France (Europe) | 0.35 |
This country comparison takes 221 countries into account.
Population growth (%) statistics
feature | value |
Number of countries covered | 221 |
average | 1.30 |
Median | 1.29 |
minimum | -0.87 |
maximum | 4.91 |
Standard deviation | 1.07 |