Compare · UN World Population Prospects 2024

France and South Africa, side by side

France in 2026: half the people are older than 43. South Africa: half are older than 30.

UN estimates for mid-2023: France 66,438,822 people · South Africa 63,212,384

France 66.7 million people Half are older than 43 23 in 100 are 65 or older

South Africa 65.5 million people Half are older than 30 7 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

FRA × ZAF · 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.

France

Children, under 15: 16
Aged 15 to 64: 61
Aged 65 and over: 23

South Africa

Children, under 15: 26
Aged 15 to 64: 67
Aged 65 and over: 7

FRA × ZAF · families and lifetimes

Children, and how long lives last

At today's rates, a woman in France would have about 1.6 children in her lifetime. In South Africa, about 2.2. Around 2.1 children per woman keeps a population the same size over time, leaving migration aside. A baby born in France this year can expect to live about 84 years. In South Africa, about 67.

Children per woman, 2026

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

France 1.6

South Africa 2.2

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.

France 84 years

South Africa 67 years

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

FRA × ZAF · 1950–2100 · how many

How big, and where they are heading

France is the larger of the two, with about as many people as South Africa: 66.7 million to 65.5 million.

Set each against its own 1950 self and France's population is 1.6 times what it was in 1950, South Africa's population is 5.0 times what it was in 1950.

France's population is expected to peak in 2095; South Africa's population is still growing in 2100. The UN expects South Africa to have more people than France from 2029. In 2100: 68.5 million in France, 94.3 million in South Africa (UN projection, medium).

Show the numbers

Year	France: people	South Africa: people	France: half older than	South Africa: half older than	France: children per woman	South Africa: children per woman	France: life expectancy	South Africa: life expectancy
1950	41.8831 million	13.0385 million	34.4	20.2	2.96	6.03	66.4	43.1
1960	46.4281 million	16.4402 million	32.8	18.9	2.73	6.11	70.4	52.6
1970	50.8131 million	22.2800 million	32.4	18.7	2.48	5.63	72.1	55.7
1980	53.9411 million	29.5189 million	32.3	19.4	1.95	4.78	74.2	60.0
1990	56.9902 million	40.7463 million	34.7	21.3	1.78	3.72	76.8	62.9
2000	59.4837 million	47.1597 million	37.7	21.8	1.88	2.41	79.0	58.4
2010	63.4174 million	52.3441 million	40.0	24.6	2.02	2.44	81.4	58.9
2023	66.4388 million	63.2124 million	42.8	29.2	1.64	2.22	83.3	66.1
2030*	67.1077 million	68.1614 million	44.0	30.6	1.64	2.10	84.2	67.3
2040*	67.9389 million	74.0356 million	44.3	32.0	1.64	1.98	85.4	68.9
2050*	68.2197 million	79.1773 million	44.5	33.3	1.65	1.89	86.6	70.3
2060*	67.8503 million	83.4435 million	45.8	35.0	1.65	1.84	87.7	71.7
2070*	67.6789 million	86.8570 million	46.3	36.2	1.65	1.80	88.9	73.1
2080*	68.0249 million	89.6741 million	46.2	37.2	1.65	1.77	90.0	74.5
2090*	68.4219 million	92.1607 million	47.3	38.3	1.65	1.75	91.0	75.9
2100*	68.4846 million	94.3144 million	48.1	39.3	1.65	1.74	92.1	77.3

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

FRA − ZAF · 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 France and which is South Africa, 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; France is drawn in solid blue squares and South Africa 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: France · South Africa. Or pick any two places with the boxes at the top of this page.

Other comparisons

Apparatus

Sources and method

Both sides of this comparison come from the UN Population Division's World Population Prospects 2024 — the same release, the same tables, counted to 2023 and projected beyond it on the medium variant. That shared origin is what a comparison rests on.

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