Compare · UN World Population Prospects 2024

South Africa and Uganda, side by side

In 2026, half of the people in South Africa are older than 30. In Uganda, half are older than 18.

UN estimates for mid-2023: South Africa 63,212,384 people · Uganda 48,656,602

South Africa 65.5 million people Half are older than 30 7 in 100 are 65 or older

Uganda 52.8 million people Half are older than 18 2 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

ZAF × UGA · 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.

South Africa

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

Uganda

Children, under 15: 43
Aged 15 to 64: 55
Aged 65 and over: 2

ZAF × UGA · families and lifetimes

Children, and how long lives last

South Africa is at about 2.2 children for each woman, at this year's rates; Uganda is at about 4.0. Babies born this year can expect about 67 years of life in South Africa and about 69 in Uganda.

Children per woman, 2026

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

South Africa 2.2

Uganda 4.0

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.

South Africa 67 years

Uganda 69 years

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

ZAF × UGA · 1950–2100 · how many

How big, and where they are heading

There are 65.5 million people in South Africa and 52.8 million in Uganda: about 20% more people than Uganda.

Set each against its own 1950 self and South Africa's population is 5.0 times what it was in 1950, Uganda's population is 9.2 times what it was in 1950.

South Africa's population is still growing in 2100. Meanwhile Uganda's population is still growing in 2100. The UN expects Uganda to have more people than South Africa from 2043. In 2100: 94.3 million in South Africa, 121 million in Uganda (UN projection, medium).

Show the numbers

Year	South Africa: people	Uganda: people	South Africa: half older than	Uganda: half older than	South Africa: children per woman	Uganda: children per woman	South Africa: life expectancy	Uganda: life expectancy
1950	13.0385 million	5.75091 million	20.2	19.2	6.03	6.66	43.1	39.7
1960	16.4402 million	7.64097 million	18.9	17.0	6.11	6.91	52.6	45.6
1970	22.2800 million	10.3216 million	18.7	16.5	5.63	7.15	55.7	49.6
1980	29.5189 million	13.2757 million	19.4	15.9	4.78	7.11	60.0	43.5
1990	40.7463 million	17.5699 million	21.3	15.8	3.72	7.01	62.9	47.6
2000	47.1597 million	24.0002 million	21.8	15.0	2.41	6.79	58.4	49.6
2010	52.3441 million	32.3908 million	24.6	15.2	2.44	6.02	58.9	60.0
2023	63.2124 million	48.6566 million	29.2	17.5	2.22	4.28	66.1	68.3
2030*	68.1614 million	58.3129 million	30.6	19.0	2.10	3.61	67.3	69.8
2040*	74.0356 million	72.0204 million	32.0	21.7	1.98	2.99	68.9	71.7
2050*	79.1773 million	85.4312 million	33.3	25.0	1.89	2.61	70.3	73.4
2060*	83.4435 million	97.5423 million	35.0	28.5	1.84	2.35	71.7	75.1
2070*	86.8570 million	107.461 million	36.2	31.8	1.80	2.17	73.1	76.7
2080*	89.6741 million	114.812 million	37.2	35.1	1.77	2.04	74.5	78.2
2090*	92.1607 million	119.268 million	38.3	38.3	1.75	1.96	75.9	79.7
2100*	94.3144 million	120.835 million	39.3	41.2	1.74	1.90	77.3	81.1

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

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

Other comparisons

Apparatus

Sources and method

South Africa and Uganda 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.

How the median age and the “100 people” pictures are worked out, and why the pictures of every country leave the regions out: how the figures here are put together.

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