Compare · UN World Population Prospects 2024

Afghanistan and Colombia, side by side

Afghanistan in 2026: half the people are older than 18. Colombia: half are older than 34.

UN estimates for mid-2023: Afghanistan 41,454,761 people · Colombia 52,321,152

Afghanistan 45.0 million people Half are older than 18 3 in 100 are 65 or older

Colombia 53.9 million people Half are older than 34 11 in 100 are 65 or older

How to read this: each pyramid stacks a place’s people by age — babies at the bottom, the oldest at the top, men on the left and women on the right. A wide bottom means many children; a wide top means many older people.

Compare shapes Compare sizes

Each bar is a share of its own place’s people, so a small country and a large one can be read side by side.

Year 2026 · UN projection

estimatesprojections

men women projected

Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries

AFG × COL · 2026 · age groups

If each place were 100 people

Shrink each population to 100 people and count them. Dots are children under 15, filled squares are people aged 15 to 64, and open squares are people 65 and over. The picture follows the year slider above.

Afghanistan

Children, under 15: 42
Aged 15 to 64: 55
Aged 65 and over: 3

Colombia

Children, under 15: 20
Aged 15 to 64: 69
Aged 65 and over: 11

AFG × COL · families and lifetimes

Children, and how long lives last

If the birth rates of this year held for a whole lifetime, a woman in Afghanistan would have about 4.6 children and a woman in Colombia about 1.6. Around 2.1 children per woman keeps a population the same size over time, leaving migration aside. A baby born in Afghanistan this year can expect to live about 67 years. In Colombia, about 78.

Children per woman, 2026

Each figure is one child: how many children a woman would have in her lifetime at that year’s rates.

Afghanistan 4.6

Colombia 1.6

The dashed line at 2.1 is about what it takes for each generation to replace the one before it, leaving migration aside.

How long a newborn can expect to live, 2026

Each block is ten years of life, if the death rates of that year stayed the same all life long.

Afghanistan 67 years

Colombia 78 years

Hatched marks are UN projections (medium variant), not measurements.

AFG × COL · 1950–2100 · how many

How big, and where they are heading

There are 53.9 million people in Colombia and 45.0 million in Afghanistan: about 20% more people than Afghanistan.

Set each against its own 1950 self and Afghanistan's population is 5.8 times what it was in 1950, Colombia's population is 4.6 times what it was in 1950.

Looking ahead: Afghanistan's population is still growing in 2100, and Colombia's population is expected to peak in 2050. The UN expects Afghanistan to have more people than Colombia from 2036. In 2100: 130 million in Afghanistan, 47.1 million in Colombia (UN projection, medium).

Show the numbers

Year	Afghanistan: people	Colombia: people	Afghanistan: half older than	Colombia: half older than	Afghanistan: children per woman	Colombia: children per woman	Afghanistan: life expectancy	Colombia: life expectancy
1950	7.77618 million	11.7670 million	19.4	17.9	7.25	6.41	28.2	48.3
1960	9.03504 million	15.6062 million	18.9	16.5	7.28	6.74	32.8	56.6
1970	11.2901 million	20.8118 million	18.0	16.7	7.40	5.28	37.5	61.5
1980	13.1693 million	26.1045 million	16.8	18.9	7.64	3.80	39.3	66.7
1990	12.0457 million	32.4401 million	16.0	21.8	7.58	3.00	45.1	68.7
2000	20.1303 million	39.0899 million	15.0	24.2	7.57	2.57	55.0	70.9
2010	28.2841 million	44.7773 million	15.6	27.5	6.20	2.01	60.7	74.9
2023	41.4548 million	52.3212 million	17.9	32.6	4.84	1.65	66.0	77.7
2030*	50.0394 million	55.7365 million	19.2	35.8	4.22	1.58	67.6	79.0
2040*	63.3479 million	58.5765 million	21.5	40.5	3.56	1.57	69.5	80.8
2050*	76.8851 million	59.3854 million	24.0	44.7	3.09	1.58	70.9	82.4
2060*	90.3627 million	58.8334 million	26.6	47.8	2.76	1.58	72.3	84.0
2070*	103.417 million	57.1285 million	29.1	50.0	2.51	1.59	73.6	85.3
2080*	114.674 million	54.2680 million	31.4	51.8	2.31	1.59	74.8	86.6
2090*	123.305 million	50.6745 million	33.7	52.5	2.17	1.60	76.1	87.8
2100*	130.217 million	47.0808 million	35.8	52.8	2.06	1.60	77.3	88.9

* UN projection, medium variant. People at mid-year; ages and life expectancy in years.

AFG − COL · 1950–2100 · every age

Which ages each place has more of

Each column is a year and each row an age, from babies at the bottom to 100 at the top. The shade of a cell shows which place has more of its people at that age — the key beside the picture tells you which shade is Afghanistan and which is Colombia, and the in-between shade means the same. Because it compares shares, a small place and a large one can be compared fairly.

236 countries · 1950–2100

Where they sit among all countries

Every country in the world, every year from 1950 to 2100. The grey cloud shows where most countries are; Afghanistan is drawn in solid blue squares and Colombia in open orange squares, so you can see whether each is ahead of the crowd, behind it or in the middle.

More comparisons

Keep exploring

Each place on its own: Afghanistan · Colombia. Or pick any two places with the boxes at the top of this page.

Other comparisons

Apparatus

Sources and method

Afghanistan and Colombia are drawn here from one source and one release: the UN Population Division's World Population Prospects 2024, counted through 2023 and projected on its medium variant after that. Two places read off the same tables can be set against each other; two read off different tables cannot.

The working behind the median age, the rounding in the “100 people” pictures and the reason the regions are kept out of the all-country views are all set out in the method.

This is one of 250 pairs with a page. The boxes at the top will take any other two places you want to see side by side.

Sources: UN WPP 2024 · flag-icons. Every source, its licence and how to cite it →

Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries