Southern Africa
5 countries and territories in the United Nations region Southern Africa, part of Sub-Saharan Africa, explored through population, migration, life expectancy, urban life and economic output. Choose a year or follow a country through time.
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Southern Africa · 2025
Population, country by country
Everyone resident in the country at mid-year, whatever their legal status or citizenship. A modelled estimate, not a census count.
- 1,256,174 to 1,256,174(1 country)
- 2,363,325 to 2,363,325(1 country)
- 2,562,122 to 2,562,122(1 country)
- 3,092,816 to 3,092,816(1 country)
- 64,747,319 to 64,747,319(1 country)
- No data (0 countries; also land this data set does not carry)
Select a country on the map to follow it through time. Drag to pan and scroll to zoom. Each shade groups similar published figures; grey means no figure for this year. Small places appear in the table.
A view through time
Population, year by year
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Selected year · 2025
Population by country
Every figure links to its source record. No figure published and zero are different answers.
| Country | Population (persons) | Status |
|---|---|---|
| BWA | 2,562,122est. | Published |
| SWZ | 1,256,174est. | Published |
| LSO | 2,363,325est. | Published |
| NAM | 3,092,816est. | Published |
| ZAF | 64,747,319est. | Published |
Showing 5 of 5 countries in Southern Africa.
How many people live in Southern Africa?
74,021,756* people in 2025, the sum of all 5 areas the United Nations lists in Southern Africa.
This is our own sum of the country figures in the table, which are modelled estimates. It is not a figure the World Bank publishes for Southern Africa. Every one of those areas has a 2025 figure.
Latest published figures for Southern Africa
Each figure is at its indicator's latest year. #1 is the highest in this region. Countries with an identical figure are marked joint and share a rank, and the next rank is skipped. A country with no figure has no rank.
Open the reference table for all five measures
| Country | Population2025 | Net migration (people)2025 | Life expectancy (years)2024 | Urban share (%)2025 | GDP per person (PPP, Int$)2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Botswana | 2,562,122est.#3 | -5,665est.#4 | 69.3est.#1 | 68.0%est.#1 | 20,698est.#1 |
| Eswatini | 1,256,174est.#5 | -5,775est.#5 | 64.3est.#4 | 26.7%est.#5 | 12,529est.#3 |
| Lesotho | 2,363,325est.#4 | -5,192est.#3 | 57.8est.#5 | 44.7%est.#4 | 3,184est.#5 |
| Namibia | 3,092,816est.#2 | 1,866est.#2 | 67.5est.#2 | 50.9%est.#3 | 11,986est.#4 |
| South Africa | 64,747,319est.#1 | 146,370est.#1 | 66.3est.#3 | 63.8%est.#2 | 15,906est.#2 |
Highest and lowest in Southern Africa
The member country with the highest and the lowest published figure for each indicator.
| Indicator | Highest | Lowest |
|---|---|---|
| Population (2025) | South Africa: 64,747,319est. | Eswatini: 1,256,174est. |
| Net migration (2025) | South Africa: 146,370est. | Eswatini: -5,775est. |
| Life expectancy (2024) | Botswana: 69.3est. | Lesotho: 57.8est. |
| Urban share (2025) | Botswana: 68.0%est. | Eswatini: 26.7%est. |
| GDP per person (2025) | Botswana: 20,698est. | Lesotho: 3,184est. |
What this data does not tell us
- Every figure is a modelled or compiled estimate republished by the World Bank (quality class C, shown as "est."). It is not an official count by each country.
- A country with no figure is shown as "no figure published" and drawn in its own grey. It is never counted as zero.
- The latest year differs by indicator (2024 and 2025). Each indicator uses one year for every country, and a country with no figure in that year is not filled from an earlier one.
- Net migration is a modelled residual of population change, not a count of migrants. It is a different measure from the citizenship and country-of-birth figures on the Cyprus pages, and the two are not to be added or compared.
- Urban share uses each country's own definition of "urban". GDP per person is in current international dollars, so a ten-year change includes price rises.
- Colours group countries into five bands of about equal size, from the lowest figures to the highest (see the legend). A shade shows which band a country is in, not how far apart two figures are.
- Population is the only indicator that is added up, because it counts people. Life expectancy, urban share, GDP per person and net migration are shown country by country, with no total or average.
- The World Bank figures for Cyprus on these pages are not comparable to the Eurostat and CYSTAT figures on the Cyprus pages, which are built differently. The two are never shown together.
Sources
Every figure comes from the World Bank — World Development Indicators, a reputable independent estimate (quality class C), not an official count by each country. Open a figure to see its own provenance.
Publisher, table, release and licence for all 5 datasets
Source and provenance — Population, total
- Publisher
- World Bank — World Development Indicators
- Dataset
- Population, total
- Table
- SP.POP.TOTL
- Period
- 2025 (latest)
- Release
- 2026-10-08 (publisher updated 2026-10-08)
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-09
- Observation type
- estimated
- Quality class
- C — reputable independent estimate
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
What this measure does and does not mean
Most countries' population figures come from the UN Population Division's World Population Prospects and are republished by the World Bank: they are modelled estimates, not census counts.
Source and provenance — Net migration
- Publisher
- World Bank — World Development Indicators
- Dataset
- Net migration
- Table
- SM.POP.NETM
- Period
- 2025 (latest)
- Release
- 2026-10-08 (publisher updated 2026-10-08)
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-09
- Observation type
- estimated
- Quality class
- C — reputable independent estimate
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
What this measure does and does not mean
A model estimate (population change minus natural increase), not a directly observed count of migrants. It is comparable in sign and rough magnitude across countries, but not to the person-level precision of the Eurostat figures used elsewhere on this site. It measures net migration flow, a different concept from citizenship or country of birth. Negative values are valid net emigration, not errors.
Source and provenance — Life expectancy at birth, total
- Publisher
- World Bank — World Development Indicators
- Dataset
- Life expectancy at birth, total
- Table
- SP.DYN.LE00.IN
- Period
- 2024 (latest)
- Release
- 2026-10-08 (publisher updated 2026-10-08)
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-09
- Observation type
- estimated
- Quality class
- C — reputable independent estimate
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
What this measure does and does not mean
From the UN Population Division's World Population Prospects, republished by the World Bank: a modelled estimate, not a vital-registration count for every country.
Source and provenance — Urban population (% of total population)
- Publisher
- World Bank — World Development Indicators
- Dataset
- Urban population (% of total population)
- Table
- SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS
- Period
- 2025 (latest)
- Release
- 2026-10-08 (publisher updated 2026-10-08)
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-09
- Observation type
- estimated
- Quality class
- C — reputable independent estimate
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
What this measure does and does not mean
"Urban" follows each country's own national definition, not a harmonised threshold, so a gap between two countries can be mostly definitional rather than a real difference in settlement patterns.
Source and provenance — GDP per capita, PPP (current international $)
- Publisher
- World Bank — World Development Indicators
- Dataset
- GDP per capita, PPP (current international $)
- Table
- NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD
- Period
- 2025 (latest)
- Release
- 2026-10-08 (publisher updated 2026-10-08)
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-09
- Observation type
- estimated
- Quality class
- C — reputable independent estimate
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
What this measure does and does not mean
Purchasing-power-adjusted series only, not current US dollars, which are sensitive to exchange rates. Values are missing (not zero) for 32 of 217 countries in 2025 (31 of the 216 loaded), mostly small or conflict-affected states.
Modification notice and disclaimer
The counts on this page are published by World Bank — World Development Indicators and are reproduced unchanged. Humanity Observatory has additionally derived the following from them:
- Population totals: the sum of the published population figures of the countries in a group (a region, or all the countries listed) for one year. It is not a figure the World Bank publishes for that group, and every area left out of it is named, never counted as zero.
- Ranks: a country's position among the countries in its table on one indicator, highest first. Countries with an identical figure share a rank and are marked joint, and the next rank is skipped.
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators. Reuse terms.
* Calculated by Humanity Observatory from published figures.
Reference CSV: all five measures at their latest available year.