The World's Fastest Growing Countries

Updated July 23, 2021 | Kristin Templin

Rapid population growth in the 21st century

The world's population is quickly closing in on eight million people and this has caused a huge amount of concern amongst scientists and environmentalists due to the impact it has on the planet. There are two main ways of looking at human population growth which include the population percentage growth of a country and the absolute population growth and it is important to take both into account when considering the world's fastest-growing countries. If you want to learn more about countries ranked by current population, you should check out our list of the world's most populous countries.

To get started, let's take a look at the population growth in terms of percentages.

The world's fastest-growing countries by population growth rate (as a percentage of the current population) according to the World Bank include:

1. Niger
2. Bahrain
3. Equatorial Guinea
4. Uganda
5. Angola
6. The Democratic Republic of the Congo
7. Burundi
8. Mali
9. Chad
10. Tanzania

**Although Syria and Malta also appear on some lists, these have been omitted due to a lack of consistency across sources

As you can see, of the 10 countries with the highest population growth percentages, nine of these are located in Africa. This has been the trend in recent years as population growth slows in other parts of the world, namely in Asia, and infant mortality rates decline while life expectancies rise in Africa. Growth has stalled most in developed countries in Europe and in Japan. In general, higher GDP per capita has led to declining birth rates. Germany, for example, has seen its population change and age over time as its citizens have fewer children.

When you look at the absolute figures, it is mind-boggling. Sub-Saharan Africa's population is growing at twice the rate of South Asia's. The United Nations World Population Prospects report expects that Africa's population will nearly double by 2050, equating to 2.5 billion people or more than 25% of the total global population.

There are many reasons behind this growth. However, a very clear pattern has emerged. Combined with Africa's already high fertility rate of five children per woman, the continent-wide decrease in infant mortality and the increase in life expectancy have caused a huge spike in population growth in many countries across Africa. While this seems a bit daunting in terms of natural resources and environmental concerns, birth rates have been steadily declining across the continent which will impact this rapid increase within the next few decades.

It is important to keep in mind that many of the countries on this list have relatively small populations, and achieving high percentage growth may not mean much in terms of absolute numbers. China and India are not part of the top 10 countries in terms of population growth percentages, their populations are growing at a much faster rate in absolute values due to the sheer size of their population. For example, between 2019 and 2020, the population of China increased by 5 million people. To put this into comparison, Burundi has only 12 million people in total. In the past two and a half years, China has added more people to its population than the number of people that exist in Burundi. India has added over 13 million people to its population between 2019 and 2020 which is roughly the same number of people as Burundi and Equitorial Guinea combined.

Since the population growth percentage isn't enough when looking at growing populations, let's take a look at the fastest population growth based on absolute numbers.

The world's top 10 growing countries by total population gain according to Worldometer include:

1. India
2. China
3. Nigeria
4. Pakistan
5. Indonesia
6. Ethiopia
7. The Democratic Republic of the Congo
8. Egypt
9. United States
10. Tanzania

Most of the countries on this list are also the biggest countries in terms of population which explains the high growth rates. However, only two of these countries appear in both of these lists which are the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Tanzania which in many ways makes them the most interesting to watch.

Both are relatively large countries by population size. The DRC currently has a population of 92 million and Tanzania has approximately 60 million people. Both follow the same pattern that we see across Africa as mentioned above. The DRC has a very high fertility rate of 5.8 live births per woman while Tanzania has 4.8 live births per woman as of 2020. Both countries have seen a steady drop in infant mortality rates and the life expectancy of both countries has increased dramatically in recent decades thanks to economic growth and better access to health care.

Looking Into the Future

While it is easy to look at current growth rates, demographics are shifting around the world. As China attempts to undo its one-child policy and persuade couples to have more than one child, Asia's population may begin to grow at a faster pace. Meanwhile, as more and more women have access to education and family planning around the world and especially in Africa, global fertility rates may continue to fall. There are many things that impact the population growth of countries and only time will tell which countries will be the leaders in the future.