Population in Sierra Leone compared to South Africa: Trends, Charts, Rankings

Sierra Leone and South Africa: population history and growth rate by year chart

Table

Year	Population		Growth rate
	Sierra Leone	South Africa	Sierra Leone	South Africa
1960	2,268,356	16,440,172	-	-
1961	2,304,227	16,908,035	1.58%	2.85%
1962	2,342,242	17,418,522	1.65%	3.02%
1963	2,382,258	17,954,564	1.71%	3.08%
1964	2,424,390	18,511,361	1.77%	3.1%
1965	2,468,666	19,089,380	1.83%	3.12%
1966	2,514,638	19,690,087	1.86%	3.15%
1967	2,562,384	20,314,066	1.9%	3.17%
1968	2,611,532	20,957,287	1.92%	3.17%
1969	2,661,365	21,614,676	1.91%	3.14%
1970	2,712,286	22,279,984	1.91%	3.08%
1971	2,763,222	22,942,143	1.88%	2.97%
1972	2,814,388	23,609,456	1.85%	2.91%
1973	2,866,955	24,294,263	1.87%	2.9%
1974	2,920,459	24,989,108	1.87%	2.86%
1975	2,974,657	25,690,940	1.86%	2.81%
1976	3,028,820	26,395,450	1.82%	2.74%
1977	3,085,354	27,118,952	1.87%	2.74%
1978	3,145,517	27,869,507	1.95%	2.77%
1979	3,207,499	28,634,162	1.97%	2.74%
1980	3,272,089	29,518,857	2.01%	3.09%
1981	3,338,940	30,541,044	2.04%	3.46%
1982	3,408,183	31,615,339	2.07%	3.52%
1983	3,481,646	32,739,304	2.16%	3.56%
1984	3,558,758	33,892,788	2.21%	3.52%
1985	3,638,438	35,042,093	2.24%	3.39%
1986	3,728,380	36,180,515	2.47%	3.25%
1987	3,829,718	37,326,190	2.72%	3.17%
1988	3,934,517	38,480,649	2.74%	3.09%
1989	4,034,037	39,628,575	2.53%	2.98%
1990	4,196,828	40,746,268	4.04%	2.82%
1991	4,246,267	41,687,898	1.18%	2.31%
1992	4,166,366	42,443,509	-1.88%	1.81%
1993	4,157,130	43,297,156	-0.22%	2.01%
1994	4,173,105	44,004,139	0.38%	1.63%
1995	4,179,179	44,541,554	0.15%	1.22%
1996	4,199,210	45,123,018	0.48%	1.31%
1997	4,253,716	45,666,838	1.3%	1.21%
1998	4,295,785	46,223,880	0.99%	1.22%
1999	4,318,043	46,730,335	0.52%	1.1%
2000	4,423,611	47,159,719	2.44%	0.92%
2001	4,692,716	47,566,800	6.08%	0.86%
2002	4,971,435	48,019,415	5.94%	0.95%
2003	5,177,687	48,500,348	4.15%	1%
2004	5,355,717	48,991,421	3.44%	1.01%
2005	5,501,712	49,490,033	2.73%	1.02%
2006	5,624,466	49,998,277	2.23%	1.03%
2007	5,749,352	50,528,584	2.22%	1.06%
2008	5,894,722	51,114,599	2.53%	1.16%
2009	6,055,646	51,728,516	2.73%	1.2%
2010	6,222,714	52,344,051	2.76%	1.19%
2011	6,387,251	52,995,205	2.64%	1.24%
2012	6,551,080	53,782,567	2.56%	1.49%
2013	6,714,051	54,678,791	2.49%	1.67%
2014	6,876,385	55,594,838	2.42%	1.68%
2015	7,037,655	56,723,537	2.35%	2.03%
2016	7,205,328	57,259,551	2.38%	0.94%
2017	7,379,299	57,635,162	2.41%	0.66%
2018	7,554,563	58,613,001	2.38%	1.7%
2019	7,731,991	59,587,885	2.35%	1.66%
2020	7,912,558	60,562,381	2.34%	1.64%
2021	8,094,602	61,502,603	2.3%	1.55%
2022	8,276,807	62,378,410	2.25%	1.42%
2023	8,460,512	63,212,384	2.22%	1.34%
2024	8,642,022	64,007,187	2.15%	1.26%
2025	8,819,789	64,747,317	2.06%	1.16%
2026	8,996,743	65,453,086	2.01%	1.09%
2027	9,174,695	66,143,018	1.98%	1.05%
2028	9,349,021	66,830,384	1.9%	1.04%
2029	9,520,811	67,506,850	1.84%	1.01%
2030	9,694,851	68,161,357	1.83%	0.97%
2031	9,870,295	68,798,574	1.81%	0.93%
2032	10,047,193	69,426,441	1.79%	0.91%
2033	10,221,006	70,040,484	1.73%	0.88%
2034	10,391,485	70,641,572	1.67%	0.86%
2035	10,563,163	71,234,749	1.65%	0.84%
2036	10,734,341	71,816,372	1.62%	0.82%
2037	10,902,263	72,387,807	1.56%	0.8%
2038	11,066,143	72,949,611	1.5%	0.78%
2039	11,230,060	73,496,152	1.48%	0.75%
2040	11,398,391	74,035,615	1.5%	0.73%
2041	11,566,213	74,575,444	1.47%	0.73%
2042	11,728,787	75,111,899	1.41%	0.72%
2043	11,887,934	75,641,512	1.36%	0.71%
2044	12,049,424	76,164,461	1.36%	0.69%
2045	12,208,872	76,681,448	1.32%	0.68%
2046	12,363,446	77,199,542	1.27%	0.68%
2047	12,512,739	77,716,650	1.21%	0.67%
2048	12,659,609	78,215,323	1.17%	0.64%
2049	12,805,136	78,699,584	1.15%	0.62%
2050	12,948,320	79,177,329	1.12%	0.61%

From 2005 to 2015, the population of Sierra Leone increased by 1,535,943 people (a 27.9% growth), while South Africa gained 7,233,504 people (a 14.6% growth).

For the next 10 years, from 2015 to 2025, Sierra Leone gained 1,924,277 (a 27.3% growth), while South Africa's population increased by 8,590,709 (a 15.1% growth).

Sierra Leone was ranked 106th most populous country in 2005 and is 102nd 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) Sierra Leone's population will grow by 44.5% to 12,948,320 people with a rank change from 102nd to 91st. The population of South Africa will increase by 21.2% to 79,177,329 people and rank change from 24th to 23rd.