Compare · UN World Population Prospects 2024

South Africa and United Kingdom, side by side

Line both places up by age in 2026. In South Africa, half are older than 30; in the United Kingdom, half are older than 41.

UN estimates for mid-2023: South Africa 63,212,384 people · United Kingdom 68,682,962

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

United Kingdom 69.9 million people Half are older than 41 20 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 × GBR · 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

United Kingdom

Children, under 15: 17
Aged 15 to 64: 63
Aged 65 and over: 20

ZAF × GBR · families and lifetimes

Children, and how long lives last

At today's rates, a woman in South Africa would have about 2.2 children in her lifetime. In the United Kingdom, about 1.5. Around 2.1 children per woman keeps a population the same size over time, leaving migration aside. Babies born this year can expect about 67 years of life in South Africa and about 82 in the United Kingdom.

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

United Kingdom 1.5

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

United Kingdom 82 years

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

ZAF × GBR · 1950–2100 · how many

How big, and where they are heading

There are 69.9 million people in the United Kingdom and 65.5 million in South Africa: about as many people as South Africa.

Since 1950 the two have moved differently: South Africa's population is 5.0 times what it was in 1950, while the United Kingdom's population is 1.4 times what it was in 1950.

Looking ahead: South Africa's population is still growing in 2100, and the United Kingdom's population is expected to peak in 2072. The UN expects South Africa to have more people than the United Kingdom from 2040. In 2100: 94.3 million in South Africa, 74.3 million in the United Kingdom (UN projection, medium).

Show the numbers

Year	South Africa: people	United Kingdom: people	South Africa: half older than	United Kingdom: half older than	South Africa: children per woman	United Kingdom: children per woman	South Africa: life expectancy	United Kingdom: life expectancy
1950	13.0385 million	50.1210 million	20.2	34.9	6.03	2.22	43.1	68.6
1960	16.4402 million	52.5386 million	18.9	35.5	6.11	2.70	52.6	71.0
1970	22.2800 million	55.6638 million	18.7	34.2	5.63	2.42	55.7	71.9
1980	29.5189 million	56.2821 million	19.4	34.3	4.78	1.89	60.0	73.6
1990	40.7463 million	57.3679 million	21.3	35.9	3.72	1.83	62.9	75.7
2000	47.1597 million	59.0573 million	21.8	37.6	2.41	1.64	58.4	77.8
2010	52.3441 million	63.0065 million	24.6	39.2	2.44	1.92	58.9	80.4
2023	63.2124 million	68.6830 million	29.2	40.8	2.22	1.56	66.1	81.3
2030*	68.1614 million	71.2870 million	30.6	41.7	2.10	1.52	67.3	82.4
2040*	74.0356 million	73.7746 million	32.0	43.1	1.98	1.53	68.9	83.8
2050*	79.1773 million	75.5047 million	33.3	43.9	1.89	1.55	70.3	85.1
2060*	83.4435 million	76.0104 million	35.0	45.7	1.84	1.56	71.7	86.3
2070*	86.8570 million	76.0491 million	36.2	46.9	1.80	1.57	73.1	87.4
2080*	89.6741 million	75.9562 million	37.2	47.4	1.77	1.58	74.5	88.5
2090*	92.1607 million	75.3783 million	38.3	48.0	1.75	1.59	75.9	89.5
2100*	94.3144 million	74.3054 million	39.3	48.9	1.74	1.59	77.3	90.6

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

ZAF − GBR · 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 the United Kingdom, 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 the United Kingdom in open orange squares, so you can see whether each is ahead of the crowd, behind it or in the middle.

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Keep exploring

Each place on its own: South Africa · United Kingdom. Or pick any two places with the boxes at the top of this page.

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Apparatus

Sources and method

South Africa and United Kingdom 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.

For how the median age is derived, why “100 people” can read a person high or low, and what the all-country pictures do and do not count, see the method.

There are 250 ready-made comparisons on this site. For anything else, name two places in the boxes at the top of the page.

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

Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries