Sub-region · UN WPP 2024

Central America population

Central America population now

187,282,014

A projection read at this second, not a count: the UN's totals for 1 January 2026 and 2027, joined by a straight line.

Mid-2023, UN estimate: 181,618,074

Year: 2026; projection · medium
Population, mid-2026: 186.868 million
Median age: 29.9
Aged 65+: 8.2%

Move through time, 1950–2100

2023 | 2024 peak 2064

male female projection · one cell = 50,000 people

How to read this: one row for each age, newborns at the bottom; men on the left, women on the right.

Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries

AGG · 1950–2100 · in brief

Central America in numbers

Central America had 181,618,074 people in mid-2023, 2.2% of the world's people. That is 4.8 times its 1950 population of 37.6 million. It covers 8 countries and areas; the largest are Mexico (71.4%), Guatemala (10.0%), Honduras (5.9%), Nicaragua (3.8%) and El Salvador (3.5%).

The UN's medium projection has it peaking in 2064 at 219 million, then falling to 197 million by 2100.

In the medium projection, deaths outnumber births every year from 2067 on.

The median age was 17.9 in 1950 and 28.8 in 2023; the projection has 49.1 in 2100. 7.5% of people were 65 or older in 2023, against 30.6% projected for 2100. The working-age population (15–64) is projected to peak in 2051 at 142 million.

Population, mid-2023: 181,618,074
Share of the world, 2023: 2.2%
Change in a year, mid-2022 to mid-2023: +1.00% · +1,796,964 people
Births, 2023: 3,011,139
Deaths, 2023: 1,064,453
Net migration, 2023: −137,425
Children per woman, 2023: 1.99
Median age, 2023: 28.8 years
Life expectancy at birth, 2023: 75.0 years
Population, mid-1950: 37,615,701
Projected, mid-2050: 215,385,142
Projected, mid-2100: 197,004,624

AGG · 1950–2100 · total population

Population, 1950–2100

peak 2064estimates | projections050 m100 m150 m200 m250 m1950197520002025205020752100

estimate projection (medium). Every column stands for a single year, counted on 1 January, and the paper rules slice it into cells of equal size.

Show the numbers: Central America, 1950–2100

Central America: population on 1 January, births, deaths, fertility and life expectancy, 1950–2100
Year	Kind	Population, 1 Jan	Births	Deaths	Children per woman	Life expectancy
1950	estimate	37,128,063	1,851,993	818,605	6.70	43.6
1951	estimate	38,103,338	1,899,730	813,854	6.72	44.3
1952	estimate	39,128,303	1,945,282	807,509	6.73	45.2
1953	estimate	40,200,130	1,990,546	792,087	6.74	46.3
1954	estimate	41,325,085	2,037,854	779,170	6.75	47.4
1955	estimate	42,508,691	2,080,875	764,380	6.75	48.5
1956	estimate	43,747,320	2,131,581	759,990	6.76	49.2
1957	estimate	45,036,099	2,184,327	755,817	6.78	49.9
1958	estimate	46,375,717	2,235,922	750,399	6.78	50.7
1959	estimate	47,762,319	2,290,933	744,093	6.79	51.5
1960	estimate	49,211,244	2,351,158	736,479	6.79	52.4
1961	estimate	50,726,707	2,415,550	729,276	6.80	53.1
1962	estimate	52,344,194	2,489,016	726,585	6.81	53.8
1963	estimate	54,027,048	2,563,147	729,697	6.81	54.2
1964	estimate	55,773,905	2,638,262	732,513	6.82	54.6
1965	estimate	57,587,495	2,707,590	729,346	6.79	55.3
1966	estimate	59,469,433	2,775,942	727,553	6.75	55.9
1967	estimate	61,410,575	2,841,005	727,938	6.70	56.5
1968	estimate	63,404,009	2,908,435	735,942	6.64	56.7
1969	estimate	65,435,932	2,967,780	745,214	6.56	56.9
1970	estimate	67,491,364	3,023,261	744,475	6.46	57.5
1971	estimate	69,563,133	3,076,219	738,812	6.36	58.1
1972	estimate	71,657,474	3,118,312	740,200	6.24	58.5
1973	estimate	73,778,768	3,152,713	727,012	6.09	59.3
1974	estimate	75,933,630	3,185,094	725,412	5.95	59.7
1975	estimate	78,103,737	3,205,687	710,082	5.77	60.5
1976	estimate	80,290,765	3,229,099	725,038	5.60	60.5
1977	estimate	82,457,918	3,252,645	696,898	5.45	61.6
1978	estimate	84,671,896	3,285,470	696,490	5.30	62.0
1979	estimate	86,908,119	3,287,450	702,138	5.11	62.2
1980	estimate	89,124,434	3,285,665	708,188	4.92	62.4
1981	estimate	91,303,034	3,308,614	703,855	4.77	62.9
1982	estimate	93,368,259	3,338,258	725,804	4.64	62.9
1983	estimate	95,477,892	3,369,726	696,555	4.51	64.2
1984	estimate	97,640,631	3,402,453	696,479	4.40	64.8
1985	estimate	99,825,182	3,436,868	696,256	4.30	65.4
1986	estimate	102,023,295	3,464,791	695,138	4.18	66.0
1987	estimate	104,233,453	3,458,127	700,596	4.04	66.5
1988	estimate	106,467,862	3,446,764	704,908	3.90	67.0
1989	estimate	108,731,322	3,459,942	713,705	3.80	67.4
1990	estimate	110,982,226	3,478,129	722,929	3.71	67.8
1991	estimate	113,313,936	3,503,865	724,488	3.63	68.2
1992	estimate	115,644,350	3,526,314	726,800	3.55	68.5
1993	estimate	117,991,086	3,543,279	727,783	3.47	68.8
1994	estimate	120,304,793	3,550,162	729,289	3.39	69.2
1995	estimate	122,625,954	3,540,961	729,416	3.31	69.6
1996	estimate	124,942,103	3,527,457	729,834	3.22	70.0
1997	estimate	127,227,884	3,506,535	731,373	3.14	70.5
1998	estimate	129,492,954	3,491,162	755,823	3.07	70.4
1999	estimate	131,737,413	3,482,754	741,651	3.01	71.2
2000	estimate	133,970,656	3,475,823	749,271	2.95	71.6
2001	estimate	136,140,989	3,462,582	753,789	2.89	71.9
2002	estimate	138,277,534	3,440,843	762,873	2.83	72.2
2003	estimate	140,386,457	3,407,381	773,789	2.77	72.5
2004	estimate	142,464,550	3,384,635	789,012	2.71	72.6
2005	estimate	144,537,511	3,362,138	803,412	2.66	72.8
2006	estimate	146,620,821	3,340,960	816,807	2.61	73.0
2007	estimate	148,745,926	3,334,381	833,545	2.57	73.1
2008	estimate	151,018,282	3,334,647	851,426	2.53	73.1
2009	estimate	153,327,726	3,341,341	868,960	2.50	73.1
2010	estimate	155,646,067	3,346,220	880,571	2.46	73.2
2011	estimate	157,954,586	3,359,176	886,340	2.44	73.5
2012	estimate	160,277,465	3,366,210	893,162	2.41	73.7
2013	estimate	162,514,127	3,357,951	905,766	2.37	73.9
2014	estimate	164,737,823	3,319,602	921,761	2.32	74.0
2015	estimate	166,795,571	3,258,136	942,086	2.26	74.0
2016	estimate	168,702,136	3,211,765	964,906	2.21	74.0
2017	estimate	170,551,353	3,163,757	990,630	2.16	74.0
2018	estimate	172,389,450	3,152,615	1,010,157	2.14	74.1
2019	estimate	174,231,348	3,130,461	1,023,103	2.11	74.3
2020	estimate	176,041,603	3,085,884	1,373,786	2.07	70.8
2021	estimate	177,547,104	3,061,417	1,489,849	2.04	70.0
2022	estimate	178,928,768	3,035,184	1,111,898	2.01	74.0
2023	estimate	180,713,451	3,011,139	1,064,453	1.99	75.0
2024	estimate	182,522,698	2,999,178	1,084,419	1.97	75.1
2025	projection	184,297,223	2,977,814	1,105,279	1.95	75.3
2026	projection	186,024,175	2,961,185	1,126,413	1.93	75.5
2027	projection	187,712,084	2,942,134	1,147,938	1.91	75.7
2028	projection	189,362,163	2,925,828	1,169,779	1.90	75.9
2029	projection	190,975,502	2,911,617	1,192,139	1.88	76.0
2030	projection	192,551,323	2,896,237	1,214,640	1.87	76.2
2031	projection	194,089,305	2,883,020	1,238,047	1.86	76.4
2032	projection	195,591,481	2,869,146	1,262,295	1.85	76.6
2033	projection	197,057,982	2,854,012	1,286,782	1.84	76.7
2034	projection	198,488,285	2,838,282	1,312,250	1.83	76.9
2035	projection	199,870,875	2,822,679	1,338,116	1.82	77.1
2036	projection	201,217,421	2,804,931	1,363,805	1.82	77.2
2037	projection	202,516,957	2,787,645	1,389,482	1.81	77.4
2038	projection	203,778,959	2,768,960	1,415,731	1.81	77.6
2039	projection	204,995,800	2,747,441	1,442,803	1.80	77.8
2040	projection	206,156,910	2,723,994	1,469,578	1.79	77.9
2041	projection	207,272,100	2,700,250	1,497,735	1.79	78.1
2042	projection	208,341,383	2,676,623	1,525,450	1.78	78.3
2043	projection	209,360,662	2,653,659	1,553,674	1.78	78.4
2044	projection	210,327,852	2,633,257	1,582,469	1.77	78.6
2045	projection	211,248,913	2,610,833	1,611,577	1.77	78.8
2046	projection	212,116,609	2,588,552	1,641,167	1.76	78.9
2047	projection	212,932,853	2,564,893	1,671,162	1.76	79.1
2048	projection	213,695,327	2,544,977	1,700,856	1.76	79.2
2049	projection	214,415,769	2,524,654	1,730,369	1.75	79.4
2050	projection	215,076,444	2,504,054	1,759,774	1.75	79.5
2051	projection	215,693,839	2,483,664	1,788,668	1.75	79.7
2052	projection	216,259,944	2,462,774	1,816,503	1.74	79.9
2053	projection	216,780,046	2,444,084	1,845,859	1.74	80.0
2054	projection	217,250,934	2,425,046	1,874,530	1.74	80.2
2055	projection	217,672,798	2,407,522	1,902,665	1.74	80.3
2056	projection	218,049,336	2,388,594	1,931,651	1.73	80.5
2057	projection	218,379,416	2,371,100	1,958,923	1.73	80.6
2058	projection	218,668,705	2,353,906	1,986,803	1.73	80.8
2059	projection	218,919,092	2,338,492	2,014,634	1.73	80.9
2060	projection	219,123,433	2,320,137	2,040,912	1.73	81.1
2061	projection	219,279,631	2,302,726	2,068,354	1.72	81.2
2062	projection	219,395,864	2,287,700	2,094,018	1.72	81.4
2063	projection	219,470,666	2,272,399	2,121,757	1.72	81.5
2064	projection	219,502,663	2,255,195	2,146,755	1.72	81.7
2065	projection	219,492,241	2,238,921	2,173,087	1.72	81.8
2066	projection	219,436,717	2,221,204	2,199,080	1.71	81.9
2067	projection	219,343,359	2,204,856	2,223,787	1.71	82.1
2068	projection	219,210,992	2,188,492	2,248,916	1.71	82.2
2069	projection	219,036,654	2,171,062	2,275,433	1.71	82.3
2070	projection	218,820,610	2,155,740	2,300,390	1.71	82.5
2071	projection	218,560,544	2,139,304	2,324,731	1.71	82.6
2072	projection	218,267,999	2,121,784	2,347,257	1.71	82.8
2073	projection	217,933,555	2,105,846	2,370,563	1.71	82.9
2074	projection	217,555,065	2,087,130	2,394,274	1.70	83.0
2075	projection	217,139,410	2,070,936	2,416,496	1.70	83.2
2076	projection	216,689,134	2,054,120	2,437,714	1.70	83.3
2077	projection	216,202,417	2,037,770	2,458,181	1.70	83.4
2078	projection	215,679,929	2,020,245	2,478,003	1.70	83.6
2079	projection	215,120,940	2,005,406	2,497,119	1.70	83.7
2080	projection	214,525,672	1,988,152	2,515,614	1.70	83.8
2081	projection	213,896,726	1,974,564	2,533,477	1.70	84.0
2082	projection	213,235,177	1,959,323	2,550,115	1.70	84.1
2083	projection	212,549,866	1,942,868	2,565,194	1.70	84.2
2084	projection	211,831,547	1,928,104	2,578,050	1.70	84.3
2085	projection	211,084,191	1,913,049	2,592,278	1.69	84.5
2086	projection	210,306,353	1,899,156	2,604,725	1.69	84.6
2087	projection	209,505,474	1,884,336	2,614,483	1.69	84.7
2088	projection	208,684,765	1,871,205	2,622,780	1.69	84.8
2089	projection	207,846,633	1,856,814	2,629,424	1.69	85.0
2090	projection	206,984,719	1,843,760	2,635,423	1.69	85.1
2091	projection	206,104,208	1,830,379	2,639,598	1.69	85.2
2092	projection	205,202,753	1,816,421	2,643,121	1.69	85.3
2093	projection	204,289,135	1,802,588	2,645,642	1.69	85.4
2094	projection	203,353,252	1,787,266	2,648,626	1.68	85.5
2095	projection	202,402,988	1,773,271	2,648,691	1.68	85.7
2096	projection	201,440,004	1,759,991	2,647,246	1.68	85.8
2097	projection	200,468,396	1,747,869	2,644,194	1.68	85.9
2098	projection	199,487,918	1,735,647	2,640,536	1.68	86.0
2099	projection	198,500,535	1,723,723	2,636,989	1.68	86.1
2100	projection	197,505,316	1,712,150	2,631,752	1.68	86.2

AGG · members

Countries and areas in Central America

Central America: member countries and areas, population mid-2023, share of the group and projected mid-2100
#	Country or area	Mid-2023	Share	Mid-2100, projected
1	Mexico	129,739,759	71.4%	130,248,836
2	Guatemala	18,124,838	10.0%	25,912,091
3	Honduras	10,644,851	5.9%	17,029,976
4	Nicaragua	6,823,613	3.8%	8,611,722
5	El Salvador	6,309,624	3.5%	5,073,224
6	Costa Rica	5,105,526	2.8%	3,776,474
7	Panama	4,458,759	2.5%	5,904,927
8	Belize	411,106	0.23%	447,374

Show the numbers: Central America, mid-2026, by single year of age

Central America: population by single year of age, mid-2026
Age	Male	Female
0	1,496,190	1,441,650
1	1,500,800	1,446,450
2	1,506,650	1,452,040
3	1,513,830	1,458,960
4	1,524,510	1,469,490
5	1,535,350	1,480,130
6	1,550,420	1,494,810
7	1,564,760	1,508,730
8	1,570,840	1,514,660
9	1,583,160	1,526,870
10	1,604,290	1,547,330
11	1,629,180	1,571,050
12	1,652,320	1,593,540
13	1,662,150	1,603,520
14	1,660,590	1,602,440
15	1,653,230	1,596,090
16	1,645,480	1,589,830
17	1,638,030	1,584,310
18	1,630,170	1,578,770
19	1,622,550	1,574,100
20	1,618,000	1,573,250
21	1,616,960	1,575,980
22	1,614,320	1,577,370
23	1,612,670	1,580,040
24	1,609,810	1,582,210
25	1,600,680	1,579,340
26	1,577,010	1,562,450
27	1,548,060	1,540,580
28	1,527,000	1,527,050
29	1,513,190	1,520,860
30	1,507,310	1,523,130
31	1,495,410	1,521,660
32	1,471,950	1,509,340
33	1,449,320	1,495,040
34	1,430,110	1,484,120
35	1,407,810	1,470,360
36	1,377,120	1,444,260
37	1,338,060	1,408,430
38	1,302,490	1,379,840
39	1,269,830	1,360,420
40	1,232,680	1,339,960
41	1,196,510	1,317,870
42	1,162,790	1,295,340
43	1,134,910	1,277,380
44	1,106,200	1,258,350
45	1,070,950	1,231,670
46	1,044,040	1,208,410
47	1,023,040	1,188,420
48	999,592	1,165,830
49	974,634	1,140,790
50	950,986	1,115,910
51	933,272	1,095,140
52	917,344	1,075,080
53	897,133	1,050,800
54	873,067	1,023,080
55	846,056	992,246
56	817,896	960,176
57	791,171	930,275
58	764,203	900,816
59	735,750	870,209
60	707,926	840,770
61	679,784	811,464
62	650,114	780,181
63	621,223	748,180
64	593,118	715,931
65	563,935	682,726
66	534,736	649,352
67	505,836	615,706
68	476,362	581,369
69	447,082	547,724
70	418,364	514,863
71	390,510	482,686
72	364,326	452,504
73	338,746	423,573
74	312,660	394,245
75	287,886	366,290
76	264,524	339,801
77	241,224	312,380
78	218,970	285,448
79	197,750	259,694
80	177,346	234,529
81	158,330	210,662
82	141,038	188,607
83	124,988	167,882
84	109,704	147,990
85	95,297	129,038
86	81,779	111,100
87	69,188	94,316
88	57,714	78,846
89	47,509	64,918
90	38,448	52,473
91	30,426	41,381
92	23,694	31,970
93	18,314	24,380
94	13,914	18,168
95	10,290	13,096
96	7,431	9,142
97	5,251	6,198
98	3,632	4,082
99	2,447	2,595
100+	3,888	4,054

AGG · 1950–2100 · every age, every year

Central America, every age in every year

Each column is a year and each row an age; the denser the ink in a cell, the more people. Everyone born in the same year climbs one 45° diagonal, so famines, baby booms and migration show up as streaks. Select a cell to follow its generation.

AGG · ages 15–64

Who does the work in Central America

On the UN's projection, Central America will have the most working-age people it ever has in 2051: 142,332,000 people aged 15–64. In 2023 it had 120,786,000.

100 aged 15–64

39 children

11 aged 65+

aged 15–64 children under 15 aged 65 and over

How to read this: the orange squares are 100 people aged 15–64 in 2023, and the rows below are how many children (teal) and how many people aged 65 or older (violet) lived alongside them.

Fewer than 50 dependants live alongside every 100 people aged 15–64 in 22 years: 2024–2045.

fewer than 50 dependants per 100 the same, projected 50 or more

How to read this: 1950 on the left, 2100 on the right; coloured in the years with fewer than 50 dependants per 100 working-age people, grey in the rest, hatched where that is a projection.

How every country compares

AGG · arrivals minus departures

Who arrives in Central America, and who leaves

In 2020–2025 Central America loses 156,454 people a year: everyone who arrives, minus everyone who leaves. The age at which that happens most is 20–24, at 28,717 a year more leaving than arriving.

one square = 5,000 people a year

020406080+

more arrive than leave more leave than arrive

How to read this: left to right is age, from babies to 100. Blue squares above the line are ages at which more people arrive than leave; orange squares below it, ages at which more leave than arrive. These are the UN's projection for 2020–2025. There is no record of migration by age before 2020.

In the years that were counted, 1950–2023, the most it gained in one year was -58,124 (1950) and the most it lost was 572,239 (2001).

This is a group of countries, so its figure counts only moves across its own outer edge: someone moving from one country inside it to another does not appear.

How migration works everywhere

AGG · births by the mother's age · 1950–2100

Who has the babies in Central America

Of every 100 babies born in Central America in 2023, 17 had a mother under 20, 72 a mother aged 20 to 34 and 11 a mother aged 35 or older. In 1950 it was 15 under 20 and 16 aged 35 or older.

1950
15 · 69 · 16

2023
17 · 72 · 11

2050 · projected
13 · 72 · 15

The mother's age: under 20 20 to 34 35 or older projected

How to read this: each block is 100 babies born in that year, one square each, coloured by how old the mother was. The numbers under a block are the three groups, youngest mothers first.

Babies born, 2023: 3,011,139
Average age when women have a baby: 26.9 years; 29.0 in 1950
Babies a year per 1,000 girls aged 15–19: 63; 136 in 1950

Babies by the mother's age, 1950–2100

Babies born in Central America by the mother's age
Mother's age	1950	1975	2000	2023	2050 projected	2100 projected
10–14	15,592	30,315	18,800	11,508	4,953	600
15–19	263,753	558,221	595,299	497,628	323,628	76,187
20–24	531,876	942,175	1,074,020	858,314	629,737	281,382
25–29	444,596	745,723	864,276	765,632	661,801	502,827
30–34	307,580	499,629	547,047	536,420	517,453	504,066
35–39	201,086	294,898	278,003	267,401	289,864	277,552
40–44	75,924	116,641	86,762	69,327	73,609	66,692
45–49	11,193	17,538	11,266	4,892	3,004	2,842
50–54	393	547	350	17	5	2
All babies	1,851,993	3,205,687	3,475,823	3,011,139	2,504,054	1,712,150

The UN's births for each year, split by the mother's age in the UN's own proportions.

Apparatus

Sources and method

Every figure on this page comes from the UN's World Population Prospects 2024: the annual tables for regions and groups (estimates to 2023, then the medium projection), and the population by single year of age and sex for the pyramid.

Sources: UN WPP 2024 · World Bank · UN WUP 2025 · Maddison Project 2020 · flag-icons. Every source, its licence and how to cite it →

Checked before it was drawn

Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries The 8 countries listed were summed and checked against the UN's total for every year. The pyramid for every year was checked against the published total. What that stamp counts, and what every page here has to pass before it can be built: how this site checks its figures.