Eritrea vs South Sudan Demographics: Median age, Gender, Religion

Median age history and projection chart in
Eritrea vs South Sudan

Table

Year	Median age
	Eritrea	South Sudan
1960	18.8	18.6
1961	18.9	18.5
1962	18.9	18.5
1963	19	18.4
1964	19	18.4
1965	19	18.3
1966	19	18.3
1967	18.9	18.2
1968	18.9	18
1969	18.8	17.9
1970	18.6	17.7
1971	18.5	17.6
1972	18.3	17.5
1973	18.2	17.5
1974	18.2	17.4
1975	18.1	17.4
1976	18	17.3
1977	17.9	17.2
1978	17.8	17.2
1979	17.8	17.1
1980	17.8	17.1
1981	17.7	17
1982	17.7	16.9
1983	17.7	16.8
1984	17.8	16.8
1985	17.8	16.7
1986	17.9	16.6
1987	17.9	16.5
1988	17.8	16.8
1989	17.7	17.1
1990	17.6	17
1991	17.6	17
1992	17.5	17
1993	17.6	16.9
1994	17.6	16.9
1995	18.1	16.9
1996	18.4	16.9
1997	18	16.9
1998	17.8	17
1999	17.5	17.1
2000	17.4	17.2
2001	17.5	17.3
2002	17.7	17.3
2003	18	17.3
2004	18.3	17.4
2005	18.3	17.6
2006	18.2	17.8
2007	18.1	18
2008	18.2	18.2
2009	18.4	18.4
2010	18.4	18.7
2011	18.5	19
2012	18.5	19.2
2013	18.5	19.3
2014	18.5	19
2015	18.4	18.6
2016	18.4	18.2
2017	18.5	17.4
2018	18.7	17.3
2019	18.9	17.8
2020	19.1	18.2
2021	19.3	18.4
2022	19.5	18.7
2023	19.7	19
2024	19.9	19.4
2025	20.2	19.7
2026	20.5	20
2027	20.8	20.4
2028	21.1	20.7
2029	21.3	21.1
2030	21.6	21.4
2031	21.8	21.7
2032	22.1	22.1
2033	22.3	22.4
2034	22.6	22.7
2035	22.8	23
2036	23	23.4
2037	23.3	23.7
2038	23.5	23.9
2039	23.7	24.2
2040	23.9	24.3
2041	24.1	24.5
2042	24.3	24.7
2043	24.5	24.8
2044	24.7	24.9
2045	24.9	25.1
2046	25.1	25.3
2047	25.3	25.4
2048	25.6	25.6
2049	25.8	25.8
2050	26	26

In 1960, the median age in Eritrea was 18.8 years compared to 18.6 years in South Sudan. As of 2024, the median age had increased to 19.9 years in Eritrea and to 19.4 years in South Sudan.

According to United Nations projections, the median age in Eritrea is expected to increased to around 26 years by 2050 compared to 26 years in South Sudan. The aging demographics forecast is based on previous years' birth rates and increasing life expectancy.

Demographic pyramid: age and gender distribution

Table

Age range	Share of population
	Eritrea		South Sudan
	Male	Female	Male	Female
0-4	6.7%	6.54%	6.55%	6.38%
5-9	6.25%	6.13%	6.08%	5.96%
10-14	6.31%	6.21%	7.05%	6.91%
15-19	6.06%	5.98%	6.39%	6.29%
20-24	5.12%	5.06%	5.13%	5.07%
25-29	4.23%	4.18%	3.29%	3.27%
30-34	3.03%	3.02%	2.52%	2.67%
35-39	2.41%	2.48%	2.16%	2.42%
40-44	1.95%	2.09%	2.5%	2.81%
45-49	1.77%	2.01%	2.29%	2.58%
50-54	1.51%	1.77%	1.82%	2.09%
55-59	1.27%	1.52%	1.28%	1.52%
60-64	0.99%	1.23%	0.9%	1.1%
65-69	0.69%	0.9%	0.6%	0.77%
70-74	0.48%	0.66%	0.35%	0.49%
75-79	0.35%	0.47%	0.19%	0.29%
80+	0.26%	0.39%	0.11%	0.2%

The chart above is a variation of a population pyramid and represents a comparison of age and gender structure. Eritrea has high demographic potential with 74.8% of people in the 0-34 age group compared to 73.6% and average potential in South Sudan.

Age dependency chart

Table

Year	Age dependency ratio
	Eritrea			South Sudan
	Total	Young	Old	Total	Young	Old
1960	79.4%	74.4%	5.04%	83.3%	78%	5.34%
1961	79.1%	74.2%	4.97%	83.2%	78%	5.25%
1962	79%	74.1%	4.91%	83.3%	78.1%	5.16%
1963	79.1%	74.3%	4.86%	83.6%	78.5%	5.05%
1964	79.4%	74.6%	4.82%	84.2%	79.2%	4.96%
1965	80.1%	75.3%	4.8%	84.9%	80%	4.89%
1966	81.1%	76.3%	4.77%	85.6%	80.8%	4.77%
1967	82%	77.2%	4.75%	86.2%	81.6%	4.65%
1968	83%	78.2%	4.73%	86.8%	82.3%	4.54%
1969	83.9%	79.1%	4.72%	87.4%	83%	4.44%
1970	84.7%	80%	4.72%	88%	83.6%	4.34%
1971	85.7%	80.9%	4.72%	88.5%	84.2%	4.29%
1972	86.5%	81.8%	4.72%	89%	84.7%	4.28%
1973	87.1%	82.4%	4.71%	89.5%	85.2%	4.3%
1974	87.3%	82.6%	4.7%	89.9%	85.6%	4.34%
1975	87.3%	82.6%	4.68%	90.4%	86%	4.38%
1976	87.5%	82.9%	4.69%	90.9%	86.4%	4.42%
1977	87.8%	83.1%	4.71%	91.4%	86.9%	4.47%
1978	88.1%	83.3%	4.73%	91.9%	87.4%	4.52%
1979	88.3%	83.5%	4.76%	92.5%	88%	4.56%
1980	88.4%	83.6%	4.79%	93.2%	88.6%	4.61%
1981	88.6%	83.8%	4.83%	93.8%	89.2%	4.65%
1982	88.7%	83.9%	4.86%	94.5%	89.8%	4.69%
1983	88.5%	83.6%	4.87%	95.1%	90.4%	4.73%
1984	87.9%	83%	4.85%	95.7%	91%	4.76%
1985	87.5%	82.6%	4.84%	96.3%	91.5%	4.79%
1986	87.1%	82.3%	4.85%	96.7%	91.9%	4.82%
1987	87.3%	82.4%	4.9%	97.3%	92.5%	4.85%
1988	88%	83%	4.98%	94.3%	89.7%	4.62%
1989	88.8%	83.7%	5.07%	91.1%	86.7%	4.42%
1990	89.7%	84.5%	5.18%	91.5%	87%	4.47%
1991	90.1%	84.8%	5.28%	91.6%	87.1%	4.51%
1992	90.8%	85.3%	5.41%	92%	87.5%	4.54%
1993	90.2%	84.7%	5.48%	92.6%	88.1%	4.57%
1994	89.9%	84.3%	5.56%	93%	88.4%	4.61%
1995	86.6%	81.1%	5.52%	93.3%	88.6%	4.66%
1996	84.9%	79.3%	5.52%	93.8%	89.1%	4.7%
1997	87.9%	82.2%	5.69%	94.1%	89.4%	4.74%
1998	90.5%	84.7%	5.88%	93.2%	88.6%	4.69%
1999	92.5%	86.5%	6.01%	92.3%	87.6%	4.65%
2000	93.8%	87.7%	6.14%	92%	87.3%	4.67%
2001	93%	86.8%	6.21%	92.2%	87.5%	4.7%
2002	91.2%	84.9%	6.24%	93%	88.2%	4.74%
2003	88.6%	82.4%	6.23%	93.7%	89%	4.78%
2004	86.3%	80.1%	6.21%	93.2%	88.5%	4.78%
2005	86.3%	80%	6.29%	91.7%	86.9%	4.76%
2006	87.1%	80.7%	6.42%	89.9%	85.2%	4.73%
2007	87.9%	81.4%	6.57%	88%	83.3%	4.71%
2008	87.2%	80.5%	6.64%	86.3%	81.6%	4.68%
2009	86.3%	79.6%	6.72%	84.9%	80.2%	4.67%
2010	86%	79.2%	6.81%	82.9%	78.2%	4.64%
2011	85.3%	78.4%	6.88%	80.9%	76.3%	4.61%
2012	84.8%	77.8%	6.97%	80.1%	75.5%	4.61%
2013	84.5%	77.4%	7.06%	79.9%	75.3%	4.62%
2014	84.8%	77.6%	7.17%	81.9%	77.2%	4.65%
2015	85.3%	78%	7.29%	83.9%	79.2%	4.66%
2016	85.3%	78%	7.35%	86.1%	81.4%	4.69%
2017	84.9%	77.5%	7.4%	90.7%	85.9%	4.81%
2018	83.6%	76.2%	7.41%	90.4%	85.5%	4.88%
2019	82%	74.6%	7.4%	85.8%	80.9%	4.88%
2020	80.2%	72.8%	7.37%	82.2%	77.3%	4.91%
2021	78.2%	70.9%	7.31%	79.8%	74.9%	4.97%
2022	76.4%	69.2%	7.26%	77.6%	72.6%	5.04%
2023	74.9%	67.7%	7.26%	74.7%	69.6%	5.09%
2024	73.4%	66.1%	7.29%	72.1%	67%	5.15%

Age dependency is the ratio of people not in the labor force (children under 15 and adults 64+) to people aged 15 to 64.

Age dependency in Eritrea decreased from 86.3% to 73.4% between 2004 and 2024.

In South Sudan, the ratio of dependent people decreased from 93.2% to 72.1% between 2004 and 2024 with a decreased share of young people and an increased proportion of people aged 65+.

Working age demographic

Table

Year	Working age population share
	Eritrea	South Sudan
1960	55.7%	54.6%
1961	55.8%	54.6%
1962	55.9%	54.6%
1963	55.8%	54.5%
1964	55.7%	54.3%
1965	55.5%	54.1%
1966	55.2%	53.9%
1967	54.9%	53.7%
1968	54.7%	53.5%
1969	54.4%	53.4%
1970	54.1%	53.2%
1971	53.9%	53.1%
1972	53.6%	52.9%
1973	53.5%	52.8%
1974	53.4%	52.7%
1975	53.4%	52.5%
1976	53.3%	52.4%
1977	53.2%	52.3%
1978	53.2%	52.1%
1979	53.1%	51.9%
1980	53.1%	51.8%
1981	53%	51.6%
1982	53%	51.4%
1983	53.1%	51.3%
1984	53.2%	51.1%
1985	53.3%	50.9%
1986	53.4%	50.8%
1987	53.4%	50.7%
1988	53.2%	51.5%
1989	53%	52.3%
1990	52.7%	52.2%
1991	52.6%	52.2%
1992	52.4%	52.1%
1993	52.6%	51.9%
1994	52.7%	51.8%
1995	53.6%	51.7%
1996	54.1%	51.6%
1997	53.2%	51.5%
1998	52.5%	51.7%
1999	51.9%	52%
2000	51.6%	52.1%
2001	51.8%	52%
2002	52.3%	51.8%
2003	53%	51.6%
2004	53.7%	51.7%
2005	53.7%	52.2%
2006	53.4%	52.7%
2007	53.2%	53.2%
2008	53.4%	53.7%
2009	53.7%	54.1%
2010	53.8%	54.7%
2011	54%	55.3%
2012	54.1%	55.5%
2013	54.2%	55.6%
2014	54.1%	55%
2015	54%	54.4%
2016	54%	53.7%
2017	54.1%	52.4%
2018	54.5%	52.5%
2019	54.9%	53.8%
2020	55.5%	54.9%
2021	56.1%	55.6%
2022	56.7%	56.3%
2023	57.2%	57.2%
2024	57.7%	58.1%
2025	58.2%	58.9%
2026	58.6%	59.8%
2027	59%	60.5%
2028	59.3%	61.1%
2029	59.6%	61.6%
2030	59.8%	61.8%
2031	59.9%	61.9%
2032	60%	61.9%
2033	60.1%	61.8%
2034	60.2%	61.7%
2035	60.3%	61.7%
2036	60.4%	61.6%
2037	60.5%	61.6%
2038	60.7%	61.6%
2039	60.8%	61.7%
2040	61.1%	61.7%
2041	61.3%	61.8%
2042	61.5%	62%
2043	61.8%	62.2%
2044	62.1%	62.4%
2045	62.5%	62.7%
2046	62.8%	63%
2047	63.2%	63.3%
2048	63.5%	63.6%
2049	63.9%	64%
2050	64.3%	64.4%

Between 2004 and 2024, the share of working-age demographics aged 15-64 changed from 53.7% to 57.7% in Eritrea and from 51.7% to 58.1% in South Sudan.

Share of young demographic (0-14 years old)

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Eritrea	South Sudan
1960	41.5%	42.5%
1961	41.4%	42.6%
1962	41.4%	42.6%
1963	41.5%	42.8%
1964	41.6%	43%
1965	41.8%	43.3%
1966	42.1%	43.5%
1967	42.4%	43.8%
1968	42.8%	44%
1969	43%	44.3%
1970	43.3%	44.5%
1971	43.6%	44.7%
1972	43.8%	44.8%
1973	44%	45%
1974	44.1%	45.1%
1975	44.1%	45.2%
1976	44.2%	45.3%
1977	44.3%	45.4%
1978	44.3%	45.5%
1979	44.4%	45.7%
1980	44.4%	45.8%
1981	44.4%	46%
1982	44.4%	46.2%
1983	44.4%	46.3%
1984	44.2%	46.5%
1985	44.1%	46.6%
1986	44%	46.7%
1987	44%	46.9%
1988	44.2%	46.2%
1989	44.3%	45.4%
1990	44.5%	45.4%
1991	44.6%	45.5%
1992	44.7%	45.6%
1993	44.5%	45.7%
1994	44.4%	45.8%
1995	43.5%	45.8%
1996	42.9%	46%
1997	43.7%	46%
1998	44.4%	45.8%
1999	44.9%	45.6%
2000	45.2%	45.5%
2001	45%	45.5%
2002	44.4%	45.7%
2003	43.7%	45.9%
2004	43%	45.8%
2005	42.9%	45.3%
2006	43.1%	44.8%
2007	43.3%	44.3%
2008	43%	43.8%
2009	42.7%	43.4%
2010	42.6%	42.8%
2011	42.3%	42.2%
2012	42.1%	41.9%
2013	42%	41.9%
2014	42%	42.5%
2015	42.1%	43.1%
2016	42.1%	43.7%
2017	41.9%	45%
2018	41.5%	44.9%
2019	41%	43.6%
2020	40.4%	42.4%
2021	39.8%	41.6%
2022	39.2%	40.9%
2023	38.7%	39.9%
2024	38.1%	38.9%
2025	37.6%	38%
2026	37.1%	37.1%
2027	36.6%	36.2%
2028	36.3%	35.5%
2029	35.9%	35%
2030	35.7%	34.7%
2031	35.5%	34.5%
2032	35.3%	34.4%
2033	35.2%	34.3%
2034	35%	34.3%
2035	34.8%	34.2%
2036	34.7%	34.1%
2037	34.4%	34%
2038	34.2%	33.8%
2039	34%	33.7%
2040	33.7%	33.4%
2041	33.4%	33.2%
2042	33.1%	32.9%
2043	32.7%	32.5%
2044	32.3%	32.2%
2045	31.9%	31.8%
2046	31.5%	31.4%
2047	31.1%	31%
2048	30.7%	30.5%
2049	30.3%	30.1%
2050	29.9%	29.7%

The share of young people aged below 15 is 38.1% in Eritrea and 38.9% in South Sudan. Birth rates in Eritrea compared to South Sudan .

Share of old population (65+)

Table

Year	Share of population 65+ years old
	Eritrea	South Sudan
1960	2.81%	2.91%
1961	2.77%	2.86%
1962	2.74%	2.81%
1963	2.71%	2.75%
1964	2.69%	2.69%
1965	2.66%	2.64%
1966	2.63%	2.57%
1967	2.61%	2.5%
1968	2.59%	2.43%
1969	2.57%	2.37%
1970	2.55%	2.31%
1971	2.54%	2.28%
1972	2.53%	2.26%
1973	2.52%	2.27%
1974	2.51%	2.28%
1975	2.5%	2.3%
1976	2.5%	2.32%
1977	2.51%	2.34%
1978	2.52%	2.35%
1979	2.53%	2.37%
1980	2.54%	2.39%
1981	2.56%	2.4%
1982	2.58%	2.41%
1983	2.58%	2.42%
1984	2.58%	2.43%
1985	2.58%	2.44%
1986	2.59%	2.45%
1987	2.61%	2.46%
1988	2.65%	2.38%
1989	2.69%	2.31%
1990	2.73%	2.33%
1991	2.78%	2.35%
1992	2.83%	2.37%
1993	2.88%	2.37%
1994	2.93%	2.39%
1995	2.96%	2.41%
1996	2.98%	2.43%
1997	3.03%	2.44%
1998	3.08%	2.43%
1999	3.12%	2.42%
2000	3.17%	2.43%
2001	3.22%	2.45%
2002	3.26%	2.46%
2003	3.3%	2.47%
2004	3.33%	2.47%
2005	3.37%	2.48%
2006	3.43%	2.49%
2007	3.49%	2.5%
2008	3.55%	2.51%
2009	3.6%	2.53%
2010	3.66%	2.54%
2011	3.71%	2.55%
2012	3.77%	2.56%
2013	3.83%	2.57%
2014	3.88%	2.56%
2015	3.93%	2.53%
2016	3.96%	2.52%
2017	4%	2.52%
2018	4.03%	2.56%
2019	4.07%	2.63%
2020	4.09%	2.69%
2021	4.1%	2.76%
2022	4.12%	2.84%
2023	4.15%	2.91%
2024	4.2%	2.99%
2025	4.26%	3.08%
2026	4.31%	3.16%
2027	4.37%	3.25%
2028	4.43%	3.34%
2029	4.49%	3.43%
2030	4.56%	3.52%
2031	4.62%	3.62%
2032	4.69%	3.73%
2033	4.76%	3.84%
2034	4.84%	3.96%
2035	4.91%	4.09%
2036	4.98%	4.23%
2037	5.05%	4.38%
2038	5.11%	4.53%
2039	5.17%	4.68%
2040	5.24%	4.84%
2041	5.32%	4.99%
2042	5.39%	5.14%
2043	5.46%	5.28%
2044	5.53%	5.41%
2045	5.59%	5.54%
2046	5.65%	5.65%
2047	5.7%	5.75%
2048	5.73%	5.82%
2049	5.77%	5.88%
2050	5.83%	5.91%

The share of older people aged 65 and over is 4.2% in Eritrea and 2.99% in South Sudan. Life expectancy in Eritrea compared to South Sudan .