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Population in Qatar compared to South Africa: Trends, Charts, Rankings

Updated on by Georank team

The latest officially reported population of Qatar was 2,857,822 in 2024 vs 64,007,187 people in South Africa in 2024. In 2025, based on the adjusted UN estimation, the current Qatar's population is 2,964,497 people compared to 65,314,246 in South Africa.

Population statistics:

  • South Africa's population is 22 times bigger than Qatar's.
  • Qatar is ranked the 137th most populous country in the world, while South Africa is the 24th.
  • The countries together account for 0.83% of the world: 0.04% for Qatar vs 0.79% for South Africa.
  • For the last 10 years, Qatar has had an average growth rate of +3.86% per year vs +1.44% in South Africa.
  • Since 2005, the population of Qatar has increased from 825K people to 2.96M (259.2% growth), while South Africa has grown from 49.5M to 65.3M (32% growth).
  • Qatar is projected to reach its peak in 2100 at 6.82M people compared to the peak of 94.3M people in 2100 for South Africa.

Qatar vs South Africa: live population counter

Qatar South Africa
Current population
2964497
65314246
Population rank 137/197 24/197
Percent of world population 0.04% 0.79%
One net population change
2.6 minutes
39.7 seconds
One birth every
20 minutes
26.6 seconds
One death every
3.55 hours
54 seconds
One migration net change every
11.4 minutes
3.15 minutes
Annual migration change +46,105 +166,972
Daily growth/decline +553 +2,178
Annual growth/decline +201,790 +794,803
Annual growth/decline rate +7.6% +1.26%
Population growth rate rank 1/197 87/197

Qatar and South Africa: population history and growth rate by year chart

Qatar
Population

Growth rate
South Africa
Population

Growth rate
Year Population Growth rate
Qatar South Africa Qatar South Africa
1960 36,010 16,440,172 - -
1961 39,680 16,908,035 10.2% 2.85%
1962 44,630 17,418,522 12.5% 3.02%
1963 50,380 17,954,564 12.9% 3.08%
1964 56,867 18,511,361 12.9% 3.1%
1965 64,065 19,089,380 12.7% 3.12%
1966 72,192 19,690,087 12.7% 3.15%
1967 81,439 20,314,066 12.8% 3.17%
1968 91,749 20,957,287 12.7% 3.17%
1969 103,025 21,614,676 12.3% 3.14%
1970 116,350 22,279,984 12.9% 3.08%
1971 131,346 22,942,143 12.9% 2.97%
1972 146,506 23,609,456 11.5% 2.91%
1973 161,841 24,294,263 10.5% 2.9%
1974 177,362 24,989,108 9.59% 2.86%
1975 193,087 25,690,940 8.87% 2.81%
1976 209,052 26,395,450 8.27% 2.74%
1977 225,285 27,118,952 7.77% 2.74%
1978 241,808 27,869,507 7.33% 2.77%
1979 258,670 28,634,162 6.97% 2.74%
1980 275,913 29,518,857 6.67% 3.09%
1981 293,553 30,541,044 6.39% 3.46%
1982 311,537 31,615,339 6.13% 3.52%
1983 329,709 32,739,304 5.83% 3.56%
1984 347,878 33,892,788 5.51% 3.52%
1985 365,940 35,042,093 5.19% 3.39%
1986 382,422 36,180,515 4.5% 3.25%
1987 397,005 37,326,190 3.81% 3.17%
1988 411,264 38,480,649 3.59% 3.09%
1989 425,646 39,628,575 3.5% 2.98%
1990 440,175 40,746,268 3.41% 2.82%
1991 454,853 41,687,898 3.33% 2.31%
1992 469,657 42,443,509 3.25% 1.81%
1993 484,545 43,297,156 3.17% 2.01%
1994 499,459 44,004,139 3.08% 1.63%
1995 514,325 44,541,554 2.98% 1.22%
1996 529,019 45,123,018 2.86% 1.31%
1997 550,500 45,666,838 4.06% 1.21%
1998 580,540 46,223,880 5.46% 1.22%
1999 612,500 46,730,335 5.51% 1.1%
2000 644,989 47,159,719 5.3% 0.92%
2001 677,925 47,566,800 5.11% 0.86%
2002 711,205 48,019,415 4.91% 0.95%
2003 744,682 48,500,348 4.71% 1%
2004 773,332 48,991,421 3.85% 1.01%
2005 825,408 49,490,033 6.73% 1.02%
2006 972,831 49,998,277 17.9% 1.03%
2007 1,208,595 50,528,584 24.2% 1.06%
2008 1,426,938 51,114,599 18.1% 1.16%
2009 1,608,903 51,728,516 12.8% 1.2%
2010 1,616,832 52,344,051 0.49% 1.19%
2011 1,624,761 52,995,205 0.49% 1.24%
2012 1,722,438 53,782,567 6.01% 1.49%
2013 1,916,426 54,678,791 11.3% 1.67%
2014 2,151,745 55,594,838 12.3% 1.68%
2015 2,344,557 56,723,537 8.96% 2.03%
2016 2,477,113 57,259,551 5.65% 0.94%
2017 2,545,820 57,635,162 2.77% 0.66%
2018 2,580,734 58,613,001 1.37% 1.7%
2019 2,638,657 59,587,885 2.24% 1.66%
2020 2,794,148 60,562,381 5.89% 1.64%
2021 2,504,910 61,502,603 -10.4% 1.55%
2022 2,657,333 62,378,410 6.08% 1.42%
2023 2,656,032 63,212,384 -0.05% 1.34%
2024 2,857,822 64,007,187 7.6% 1.26%
2025 2,921,065 64,747,317 2.21% 1.16%
2026 2,975,134 65,453,086 1.85% 1.09%
2027 3,019,526 66,143,018 1.49% 1.05%
2028 3,057,695 66,830,384 1.26% 1.04%
2029 3,092,803 67,506,850 1.15% 1.01%
2030 3,125,174 68,161,357 1.05% 0.97%
2031 3,156,754 68,798,574 1.01% 0.93%
2032 3,189,188 69,426,441 1.03% 0.91%
2033 3,222,500 70,040,484 1.04% 0.88%
2034 3,256,691 70,641,572 1.06% 0.86%
2035 3,291,711 71,234,749 1.08% 0.84%
2036 3,327,585 71,816,372 1.09% 0.82%
2037 3,364,333 72,387,807 1.1% 0.8%
2038 3,401,906 72,949,611 1.12% 0.78%
2039 3,440,293 73,496,152 1.13% 0.75%
2040 3,479,439 74,035,615 1.14% 0.73%
2041 3,519,302 74,575,444 1.15% 0.73%
2042 3,559,840 75,111,899 1.15% 0.72%
2043 3,601,019 75,641,512 1.16% 0.71%
2044 3,642,784 76,164,461 1.16% 0.69%
2045 3,685,111 76,681,448 1.16% 0.68%
2046 3,727,959 77,199,542 1.16% 0.68%
2047 3,771,287 77,716,650 1.16% 0.67%
2048 3,815,108 78,215,323 1.16% 0.64%
2049 3,859,368 78,699,584 1.16% 0.62%
2050 3,904,074 79,177,329 1.16% 0.61%

From 2005 to 2015, the population of Qatar increased by 1,519,149 people (a 184% growth), while South Africa gained 7,233,504 people (a 14.6% growth).

For the next 10 years, from 2015 to 2025, Qatar gained 619,940 (a 26.4% growth), while South Africa's population increased by 8,590,709 (a 15.1% growth).

Qatar was ranked 159th most populous country in 2005 and is 137th in 2025. South Africa was ranked 24th in 2005 and still ranked 24th now.

The UN's World Population Prospects forecasts that with changing growth rate trends in 25 years (in 2050) Qatar's population will grow by 31.7% to 3,904,074 people with a rank change from 137th to 134th. The population of South Africa will increase by 21.2% to 79,177,329 people and rank change from 24th to 23rd.

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