UN country group · UN WPP 2024

Northern Africa and Western Asia population

Northern Africa and Western Asia population now

602,159,930

A projection read at this second, not a count: the UN's totals for 1 January 2026 and 2027, joined by a straight line.

Mid-2023, UN estimate: 572,506,538

Year: 2026; projection · medium
Population, mid-2026: 599.872 million
Median age: 27.5
Aged 65+: 6.2%

Move through time, 1950–2100

2023 | 2024

male female projection · one cell = 100,000 people

How to read this: one row for each age, newborns at the bottom; men on the left, women on the right.

Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries

AGG · 1950–2100 · in brief

Northern Africa and Western Asia in numbers

The UN counts 572,506,538 people in Northern Africa and Western Asia in mid-2023, and 7.1% of the world's people. That is 5.7 times its 1950 population of 100 million.

In the UN's medium projection it is still growing in 2100, when it reaches 987 million.

Births outnumber deaths in every year from 1950 to 2100, estimates and projection alike.

The median age was 20.1 in 1950 and 26.9 in 2023; the projection has 41.5 in 2100. 5.8% of people were 65 or older in 2023, against 21.7% projected for 2100. The working-age population (15–64) is projected to peak in 2096 at 605 million.

Population, mid-2023: 572,506,538
Share of the world, 2023: 7.1%
Change in a year, mid-2022 to mid-2023: +1.80% · +10,097,948 people
Births, 2023: 11,764,184
Deaths, 2023: 2,966,250
Net migration, 2023: +134,225
Children per woman, 2023: 2.73
Median age, 2023: 26.9 years
Life expectancy at birth, 2023: 73.8 years
Population, mid-1950: 100,007,170
Projected, mid-2050: 792,346,044
Projected, mid-2100: 987,038,326

AGG · 1950–2100 · total population

Population, 1950–2100

estimates | projections0200 m400 m600 m800 m1 bn1950197520002025205020752100

estimate projection (medium). One column is one year's population, read on 1 January; the paper rules divide it into equal cells.

Show the numbers: Northern Africa and Western Asia, 1950–2100

Northern Africa and Western Asia: population on 1 January, births, deaths, fertility and life expectancy, 1950–2100
Year	Kind	Population, 1 Jan	Births	Deaths	Children per woman	Life expectancy
1950	estimate	98,814,391	4,779,380	2,482,995	6.52	40.6
1951	estimate	101,199,950	4,916,175	2,486,701	6.54	41.4
1952	estimate	103,720,466	5,064,133	2,494,336	6.58	42.2
1953	estimate	106,384,671	5,197,363	2,507,712	6.59	42.9
1954	estimate	109,158,309	5,313,151	2,534,096	6.58	43.3
1955	estimate	111,995,801	5,403,190	2,533,982	6.54	44.0
1956	estimate	114,902,149	5,525,598	2,536,447	6.54	44.6
1957	estimate	118,023,920	5,589,567	2,548,122	6.47	45.1
1958	estimate	121,152,734	5,705,964	2,555,420	6.48	45.6
1959	estimate	124,326,285	5,849,920	2,550,345	6.52	46.3
1960	estimate	127,670,467	5,973,593	2,558,699	6.53	46.8
1961	estimate	131,066,419	6,131,743	2,547,168	6.57	47.6
1962	estimate	134,540,884	6,307,076	2,573,670	6.63	48.1
1963	estimate	138,201,716	6,416,388	2,551,217	6.62	49.0
1964	estimate	141,946,348	6,511,137	2,552,052	6.58	49.6
1965	estimate	145,761,767	6,588,833	2,550,006	6.52	50.2
1966	estimate	149,587,745	6,688,288	2,549,046	6.48	50.7
1967	estimate	153,729,749	6,787,331	2,557,104	6.42	51.1
1968	estimate	157,970,927	6,896,169	2,557,235	6.38	51.7
1969	estimate	162,348,610	7,020,921	2,560,413	6.32	52.2
1970	estimate	166,809,496	7,158,852	2,562,168	6.28	52.7
1971	estimate	171,278,213	7,299,973	2,556,654	6.22	53.3
1972	estimate	175,896,195	7,420,631	2,552,188	6.16	53.9
1973	estimate	180,604,587	7,524,468	2,557,068	6.08	54.4
1974	estimate	185,587,125	7,647,375	2,548,646	6.00	55.0
1975	estimate	190,521,929	7,784,199	2,541,623	5.94	55.5
1976	estimate	195,943,134	7,938,692	2,568,367	5.87	55.8
1977	estimate	201,598,875	8,084,587	2,499,909	5.79	57.0
1978	estimate	207,308,051	8,256,118	2,474,721	5.71	57.7
1979	estimate	213,294,659	8,458,698	2,452,154	5.64	58.4
1980	estimate	219,297,739	8,638,039	2,436,165	5.56	59.0
1981	estimate	225,784,752	8,802,531	2,420,986	5.47	59.6
1982	estimate	232,221,716	8,958,427	2,434,577	5.39	59.9
1983	estimate	238,958,427	9,117,887	2,419,728	5.30	60.5
1984	estimate	245,819,572	9,222,047	2,399,498	5.19	61.1
1985	estimate	252,814,759	9,334,507	2,373,444	5.08	61.7
1986	estimate	259,654,674	9,392,341	2,305,086	4.95	62.6
1987	estimate	266,744,002	9,431,719	2,276,382	4.82	63.2
1988	estimate	273,797,192	9,502,358	2,321,031	4.71	63.2
1989	estimate	280,878,674	9,518,433	2,284,921	4.58	63.9
1990	estimate	288,061,837	9,492,431	2,276,459	4.43	64.3
1991	estimate	294,031,923	9,493,966	2,236,562	4.31	64.9
1992	estimate	301,493,897	9,512,413	2,215,716	4.19	65.4
1993	estimate	308,626,213	9,516,398	2,216,232	4.07	65.8
1994	estimate	316,216,733	9,543,245	2,227,427	3.96	66.0
1995	estimate	323,292,773	9,501,320	2,220,375	3.83	66.4
1996	estimate	330,372,324	9,461,146	2,214,637	3.71	66.8
1997	estimate	337,302,648	9,517,133	2,224,607	3.64	67.2
1998	estimate	344,390,061	9,576,656	2,228,371	3.57	67.5
1999	estimate	351,540,080	9,613,391	2,247,578	3.48	67.8
2000	estimate	358,697,450	9,628,477	2,233,898	3.40	68.3
2001	estimate	366,221,984	9,661,891	2,240,867	3.33	68.6
2002	estimate	373,713,596	9,683,134	2,251,846	3.25	69.0
2003	estimate	381,412,320	9,801,904	2,301,821	3.21	69.1
2004	estimate	388,950,378	9,976,508	2,357,164	3.18	69.1
2005	estimate	396,868,222	10,165,550	2,382,235	3.16	69.4
2006	estimate	405,044,677	10,395,370	2,384,199	3.16	69.9
2007	estimate	413,644,087	10,643,956	2,400,851	3.15	70.3
2008	estimate	422,804,952	10,863,454	2,419,111	3.14	70.6
2009	estimate	432,257,322	11,087,147	2,423,490	3.13	71.0
2010	estimate	441,518,873	11,310,492	2,456,273	3.13	71.3
2011	estimate	450,642,395	11,505,407	2,522,518	3.13	71.3
2012	estimate	460,221,827	11,823,304	2,581,660	3.16	71.4
2013	estimate	470,333,033	11,998,980	2,608,106	3.16	71.7
2014	estimate	480,865,875	12,186,609	2,625,430	3.17	72.0
2015	estimate	492,047,220	12,266,797	2,689,270	3.14	72.1
2016	estimate	503,094,035	12,200,210	2,725,078	3.08	72.4
2017	estimate	512,955,434	12,210,732	2,728,794	3.05	72.7
2018	estimate	522,068,138	11,980,199	2,739,159	2.95	73.0
2019	estimate	530,845,715	11,824,821	2,746,721	2.88	73.4
2020	estimate	539,821,021	11,737,736	3,178,215	2.83	72.1
2021	estimate	548,077,234	11,603,735	3,371,421	2.77	71.7
2022	estimate	556,776,711	11,594,814	2,943,996	2.74	73.5
2023	estimate	568,040,469	11,764,184	2,966,250	2.73	73.8
2024	estimate	576,972,606	11,822,106	3,030,429	2.71	74.0
2025	projection	585,991,707	11,833,589	3,057,719	2.69	74.3
2026	projection	595,207,265	11,880,645	3,087,652	2.66	74.5
2027	projection	604,537,128	11,927,495	3,153,367	2.64	74.7
2028	projection	613,352,637	11,962,511	3,219,858	2.61	74.9
2029	projection	622,000,418	12,003,722	3,288,131	2.59	75.0
2030	projection	630,554,494	12,044,616	3,360,392	2.56	75.2
2031	projection	638,962,316	12,081,542	3,434,316	2.54	75.4
2032	projection	647,322,862	12,135,760	3,511,525	2.52	75.5
2033	projection	655,640,457	12,185,800	3,591,596	2.50	75.7
2034	projection	663,933,471	12,249,591	3,674,152	2.48	75.8
2035	projection	672,178,782	12,293,348	3,758,982	2.45	76.0
2036	projection	680,389,597	12,342,506	3,844,375	2.43	76.2
2037	projection	688,569,120	12,386,676	3,931,636	2.41	76.3
2038	projection	696,726,158	12,443,747	4,021,719	2.40	76.5
2039	projection	704,810,756	12,489,024	4,110,478	2.38	76.6
2040	projection	712,892,559	12,528,115	4,202,148	2.37	76.8
2041	projection	720,913,589	12,555,018	4,295,439	2.35	76.9
2042	projection	728,856,373	12,572,882	4,388,980	2.34	77.0
2043	projection	736,716,795	12,582,856	4,484,795	2.32	77.2
2044	projection	744,461,884	12,577,410	4,579,457	2.31	77.3
2045	projection	752,131,914	12,563,584	4,675,982	2.29	77.5
2046	projection	759,706,235	12,543,906	4,773,033	2.28	77.6
2047	projection	767,129,203	12,523,189	4,869,773	2.27	77.8
2048	projection	774,453,678	12,501,979	4,968,349	2.25	77.9
2049	projection	781,686,528	12,473,116	5,067,455	2.24	78.0
2050	projection	788,839,747	12,448,344	5,167,035	2.23	78.2
2051	projection	795,852,341	12,422,124	5,267,568	2.22	78.3
2052	projection	802,708,270	12,391,462	5,367,696	2.21	78.4
2053	projection	809,408,246	12,361,626	5,471,507	2.19	78.6
2054	projection	816,035,830	12,337,089	5,573,644	2.18	78.7
2055	projection	822,542,548	12,314,061	5,677,150	2.17	78.8
2056	projection	828,882,710	12,288,172	5,781,867	2.16	79.0
2057	projection	835,070,290	12,264,658	5,888,560	2.15	79.1
2058	projection	841,111,922	12,244,686	5,996,217	2.14	79.2
2059	projection	847,033,324	12,226,193	6,102,755	2.13	79.3
2060	projection	852,839,612	12,211,155	6,212,702	2.12	79.5
2061	projection	858,554,055	12,197,936	6,322,106	2.11	79.6
2062	projection	864,087,959	12,186,165	6,431,035	2.10	79.7
2063	projection	869,524,811	12,169,265	6,540,969	2.09	79.8
2064	projection	874,852,800	12,161,574	6,648,597	2.08	80.0
2065	projection	880,052,536	12,149,943	6,755,390	2.07	80.1
2066	projection	885,122,128	12,142,927	6,864,214	2.06	80.2
2067	projection	890,120,641	12,133,450	6,969,965	2.05	80.3
2068	projection	894,932,321	12,114,261	7,074,471	2.04	80.4
2069	projection	899,609,927	12,092,396	7,178,612	2.03	80.6
2070	projection	904,153,471	12,068,071	7,279,775	2.02	80.7
2071	projection	908,568,061	12,043,974	7,376,672	2.02	80.8
2072	projection	912,922,202	12,019,579	7,472,294	2.01	80.9
2073	projection	917,164,726	11,995,898	7,564,285	2.00	81.0
2074	projection	921,276,332	11,962,808	7,653,343	2.00	81.2
2075	projection	925,224,875	11,923,281	7,742,684	1.99	81.3
2076	projection	929,026,277	11,890,415	7,832,067	1.98	81.4
2077	projection	932,703,974	11,851,114	7,918,518	1.98	81.5
2078	projection	936,240,300	11,809,519	8,000,202	1.97	81.6
2079	projection	939,711,367	11,772,832	8,079,662	1.96	81.7
2080	projection	943,120,052	11,730,387	8,160,116	1.96	81.8
2081	projection	946,415,533	11,690,240	8,237,436	1.95	82.0
2082	projection	949,604,777	11,646,955	8,312,273	1.95	82.1
2083	projection	952,665,429	11,602,748	8,388,175	1.94	82.2
2084	projection	955,586,399	11,564,426	8,463,333	1.93	82.3
2085	projection	958,435,893	11,523,884	8,537,708	1.93	82.4
2086	projection	961,195,499	11,482,108	8,611,074	1.92	82.5
2087	projection	963,803,063	11,438,575	8,684,729	1.92	82.6
2088	projection	966,272,104	11,394,278	8,759,073	1.91	82.8
2089	projection	968,629,917	11,355,542	8,833,850	1.91	82.9
2090	projection	970,878,505	11,312,806	8,907,849	1.90	83.0
2091	projection	972,931,100	11,274,616	8,985,199	1.90	83.1
2092	projection	974,949,802	11,238,347	9,063,832	1.89	83.2
2093	projection	976,870,025	11,199,132	9,144,477	1.89	83.3
2094	projection	978,652,219	11,155,506	9,221,670	1.88	83.4
2095	projection	980,203,837	11,108,722	9,299,213	1.87	83.5
2096	projection	981,745,723	11,069,757	9,378,784	1.87	83.7
2097	projection	983,118,863	11,031,893	9,457,554	1.86	83.8
2098	projection	984,379,877	10,997,489	9,534,276	1.86	83.9
2099	projection	985,544,315	10,960,740	9,609,763	1.85	84.0
2100	projection	986,573,025	10,925,427	9,682,611	1.85	84.1

AGG · membership

What Northern Africa and Western Asia is

Northern Africa and Western Asia is one of the UN's analytical groupings. This dataset carries the group's totals, not its membership, so its countries are not listed here.

Show the numbers: Northern Africa and Western Asia, mid-2026, by single year of age

Northern Africa and Western Asia: population by single year of age, mid-2026
Age	Male	Female
0	5,979,760	5,707,390
1	5,950,800	5,686,890
2	5,914,430	5,653,290
3	5,852,340	5,593,370
4	5,815,180	5,561,340
5	5,838,430	5,589,390
6	5,863,370	5,614,400
7	5,873,300	5,625,170
8	5,938,120	5,688,200
9	5,994,700	5,741,000
10	6,022,810	5,766,020
11	6,034,860	5,777,110
12	5,993,390	5,739,880
13	5,916,660	5,671,160
14	5,795,560	5,560,850
15	5,673,350	5,447,570
16	5,558,860	5,333,150
17	5,435,870	5,202,340
18	5,315,510	5,070,220
19	5,184,790	4,926,750
20	5,073,040	4,797,830
21	5,016,440	4,708,130
22	5,002,090	4,649,710
23	5,012,280	4,613,410
24	5,031,930	4,598,210
25	5,069,520	4,600,180
26	5,090,340	4,584,190
27	5,080,060	4,550,240
28	5,079,660	4,510,980
29	5,076,870	4,462,910
30	5,061,400	4,419,740
31	5,057,220	4,394,620
32	5,037,910	4,366,250
33	5,020,980	4,335,750
34	4,980,310	4,301,840
35	4,947,270	4,269,540
36	4,880,230	4,223,880
37	4,796,980	4,169,220
38	4,720,260	4,114,140
39	4,607,840	4,051,080
40	4,488,770	3,979,890
41	4,370,560	3,896,920
42	4,240,170	3,806,230
43	4,132,950	3,716,800
44	4,004,120	3,628,580
45	3,891,080	3,548,330
46	3,766,930	3,454,380
47	3,618,810	3,337,790
48	3,478,120	3,220,590
49	3,338,920	3,108,850
50	3,205,220	2,994,880
51	3,074,230	2,876,980
52	2,943,080	2,764,780
53	2,830,780	2,670,620
54	2,715,730	2,579,390
55	2,602,540	2,488,740
56	2,496,720	2,407,350
57	2,396,590	2,334,170
58	2,305,650	2,271,070
59	2,223,230	2,221,660
60	2,143,300	2,175,060
61	2,060,070	2,114,170
62	1,964,790	2,035,110
63	1,855,320	1,942,910
64	1,728,660	1,831,830
65	1,607,750	1,720,600
66	1,501,370	1,623,510
67	1,396,000	1,527,230
68	1,301,790	1,442,940
69	1,226,910	1,381,560
70	1,152,870	1,319,060
71	1,073,300	1,245,110
72	989,687	1,164,050
73	902,054	1,077,250
74	812,430	986,650
75	723,673	894,725
76	638,761	803,837
77	563,012	723,431
78	494,448	655,031
79	426,822	584,330
80	359,983	508,007
81	302,235	438,170
82	254,901	380,521
83	217,080	335,592
84	183,783	296,962
85	151,863	259,311
86	125,191	223,996
87	102,524	191,800
88	82,897	161,514
89	64,864	131,616
90	49,445	104,550
91	36,918	81,708
92	26,937	63,036
93	19,332	48,127
94	13,388	35,728
95	9,020	26,010
96	5,906	18,526
97	3,708	12,788
98	2,312	8,631
99	1,430	5,654
100+	2,110	8,473

AGG · 1950–2100 · every age, every year

Northern Africa and Western Asia, every age in every year

Each column is a year and each row an age; the denser the ink in a cell, the more people. Everyone born in the same year climbs one 45° diagonal, so famines, baby booms and migration show up as streaks. Select a cell to follow its generation.

AGG · ages 15–64

Who does the work in Northern Africa and Western Asia

On the UN's projection, Northern Africa and Western Asia will have the most working-age people it ever has in 2096: 605,301,000 people aged 15–64. In 2023 it had 367,429,000.

100 aged 15–64

47 children

9 aged 65+

aged 15–64 children under 15 aged 65 and over

How to read this: one orange square for each of 100 people aged 15–64 in 2023. Beneath them, teal for the children living alongside those 100 and violet for the people aged 65 or older.

At no point between 1950 and 2100 do fewer than 50 dependants live alongside every 100 people aged 15–64 here.

fewer than 50 dependants per 100 the same, projected 50 or more

How to read this: one stripe a year from 1950 to 2100. A stripe takes colour in a year when fewer than 50 dependants live alongside every 100 people of working age, and stays grey otherwise; hatching means the year is projected.

How every country compares

AGG · arrivals minus departures

Who arrives in Northern Africa and Western Asia, and who leaves

In 2020–2025 Northern Africa and Western Asia gains 701,980 people a year: everyone who arrives, minus everyone who leaves. The age at which that happens most is 25–29, at 452,558 a year more arriving than leaving.

one square = 50,000 people a year

020406080+

more arrive than leave more leave than arrive

How to read this: each column is one age, youngest on the left. Above the line, in blue, are the ages gaining people; below it, in orange, the ages losing them. This is the UN's projection for 2020–2025 — the record of migration by age does not go back beyond 2020.

Across the counted years, 1950 to 2023, its biggest single-year gain was 2,612,930 (2022); its biggest loss, 1,245,916 (1990).

This is a group of countries, so its figure counts only moves across its own outer edge: someone moving from one country inside it to another does not appear.

How migration works everywhere

AGG · births by the mother's age · 1950–2100

Who has the babies in Northern Africa and Western Asia

Of every 100 babies born in Northern Africa and Western Asia in 2023, 8 had a mother under 20, 74 a mother aged 20 to 34 and 18 a mother aged 35 or older. In 1950 it was 16 under 20 and 17 aged 35 or older.

1950
16 · 67 · 17

2023
8 · 74 · 18

2050 · projected
6 · 74 · 20

The mother's age: under 20 20 to 34 35 or older projected

How to read this: shrink a year's babies to 100 and colour each one by the age of its mother — that is a block. Under it, the same three groups as numbers, starting with the youngest mothers.

Babies born, 2023: 11,764,184
Average age when women have a baby: 29.1 years; 29.1 in 1950
Babies a year per 1,000 girls aged 15–19: 36; 136 in 1950

Babies by the mother's age, 1950–2100

Babies born in Northern Africa and Western Asia by the mother's age
Mother's age	1950	1975	2000	2023	2050 projected	2100 projected
10–14	63,678	62,136	36,933	16,646	8,558	2,314
15–19	684,990	1,026,946	982,340	882,121	696,131	310,830
20–24	1,255,563	2,240,116	2,665,363	2,797,583	2,538,336	1,610,146
25–29	1,149,449	1,922,279	2,608,691	3,372,236	3,626,061	3,266,035
30–34	827,052	1,275,650	1,866,233	2,599,623	3,042,809	3,231,945
35–39	513,113	819,210	1,044,059	1,504,304	1,825,080	1,852,142
40–44	232,880	354,832	350,285	509,247	610,721	577,314
45–49	50,125	79,104	71,196	78,926	95,787	72,145
50–54	2,530	3,926	3,377	3,498	4,861	2,556
All babies	4,779,380	7,784,199	9,628,477	11,764,184	12,448,344	10,925,427

The UN's births for each year, split by the mother's age in the UN's own proportions.

Apparatus

Sources and method

Every figure on this page comes from the UN's World Population Prospects 2024: the annual tables for regions and groups (estimates to 2023, then the medium projection), and the population by single year of age and sex for the pyramid.

Sources: UN WPP 2024 · World Bank · UN WUP 2025 · Maddison Project 2020 · flag-icons. Every source, its licence and how to cite it →

Checked before it was drawn

Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries The pyramid for every year was checked against the published total. What that stamp counts, and what every page here has to pass before it can be built: how this site checks its figures.