Compare · UN World Population Prospects 2024

South Africa and Vietnam, side by side

In 2026, half of the people in South Africa are older than 30. In Vietnam, half are older than 35.

UN estimates for mid-2023: South Africa 63,212,384 people · Vietnam 100,352,192

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

Vietnam 102 million people Half are older than 35 10 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 × VNM · 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

Vietnam

Children, under 15: 22
Aged 15 to 64: 68
Aged 65 and over: 10

ZAF × VNM · 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 Vietnam, about 1.9. 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 75 in Vietnam.

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

Vietnam 1.9

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

Vietnam 75 years

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

ZAF × VNM · 1950–2100 · how many

How big, and where they are heading

There are 102 million people in Vietnam and 65.5 million in South Africa: about 60% more people than South Africa.

Since 1950 the two have moved differently: South Africa's population is 5.0 times what it was in 1950, while Vietnam's population is 4.1 times what it was in 1950.

South Africa's population is still growing in 2100. Meanwhile Vietnam's population is expected to peak in 2049. The UN expects South Africa to have more people than Vietnam from 2097. In 2100: 94.3 million in South Africa, 91.7 million in Vietnam (UN projection, medium).

Show the numbers

Year	South Africa: people	Vietnam: people	South Africa: half older than	Vietnam: half older than	South Africa: children per woman	Vietnam: children per woman	South Africa: life expectancy	Vietnam: life expectancy
1950	13.0385 million	25.1007 million	20.2	24.1	6.03	5.15	43.1	48.0
1960	16.4402 million	32.5319 million	18.9	21.2	6.11	6.27	52.6	58.0
1970	22.2800 million	41.4752 million	18.7	18.2	5.63	6.02	55.7	54.9
1980	29.5189 million	52.4901 million	19.4	19.4	4.78	4.79	60.0	65.3
1990	40.7463 million	65.5045 million	21.3	20.5	3.72	3.60	62.9	69.0
2000	47.1597 million	77.1540 million	21.8	23.7	2.41	2.03	58.4	72.8
2010	52.3441 million	87.4552 million	24.6	28.2	2.44	1.91	58.9	73.6
2023	63.2124 million	100.352 million	29.2	33.4	2.22	1.91	66.1	74.6
2030*	68.1614 million	104.255 million	30.6	36.7	2.10	1.82	67.3	75.7
2040*	74.0356 million	108.438 million	32.0	39.2	1.98	1.77	68.9	77.3
2050*	79.1773 million	110.009 million	33.3	41.2	1.89	1.75	70.3	78.9
2060*	83.4435 million	108.397 million	35.0	44.6	1.84	1.73	71.7	80.5
2070*	86.8570 million	105.261 million	36.2	46.6	1.80	1.72	73.1	82.0
2080*	89.6741 million	101.039 million	37.2	47.3	1.77	1.72	74.5	83.4
2090*	92.1607 million	96.4070 million	38.3	48.9	1.75	1.71	75.9	84.8
2100*	94.3144 million	91.7051 million	39.3	50.3	1.74	1.70	77.3	86.1

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

ZAF − VNM · 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 Vietnam, 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 Vietnam 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 · Vietnam. Or pick any two places with the boxes at the top of this page.

Other comparisons

Apparatus

Sources and method

South Africa and Vietnam 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.

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