Burkina Faso Population

Burkina Faso combines high fertility with a young population and rapid growth, the typical Sahel pattern. Worsening insecurity has displaced large numbers of people internally, adding instability to an already fast-changing demographic picture. Slowing the birth rate while coping with conflict is a steep dual challenge.

With roughly 24.3 million people as of 2026, Burkina Faso ranks 59th in the world by population. A country of Western Africa, its trajectory to 2100 is governed by how births, deaths and migration play out. It packs in roughly 90 people per square kilometre.

Growth continues for Burkina Faso until around 2100, the year its population is set to crest at about 49.8 million. From there a slow fall takes it to roughly 49.8 million by century's end.

Fertility is high, around 4.11 births per woman, the engine of rapid, sustained growth.

The median age is set to climb from about 17 today to roughly 36 by 2100, even as life expectancy improves from about 61 years. For now it remains one of the world's youngest populations, with a large generation about to reach working age. A rising median age means fewer working-age people supporting each retiree over time.

Read these numbers as the midpoint of a range. Under the UN's high and low fertility paths Burkina Faso's 2100 population could land well above or below the figures here; the medium variant is simply the central case.