Nearly half the world's under-25s will be African by 2100
Africa's share of the world's people under 25, 1950, 2026 and 2100. UN WPP 2024 medium variant.
Africa is projected to be home to 46% of the world's under-25s in 2100, Asia to 39%.
Today more than one in four of the world's young people live in Africa, up from 10% in 1950.
The year Africa is projected to pass Asia as home to the most young people.
the numbers
| Africa's share (%) | |
|---|---|
| 1950 | 10 |
| 2026 | 28 |
| 2100 (projected) | 46 |
source notes & method
Pew analysis of UN WPP 2024; 1950 is a UN estimate, 2026 and 2100 are medium-variant projections. Only these three points are published as numbers, so no intermediate years are shown; the line between them is not data. Young people = under 25. UNICEF's Generation 2030 Africa 2.0 (WPP 2017 basis) gives a similar path for under-18s: just above 10% in 1950, about 38% in 2050, around 50% by 2100.
Published 3 Nov 2026
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