Mozambique Population

Mozambique has high fertility and a very young population, placing it among Africa's faster-growing countries. Widespread poverty and vulnerability to cyclones and flooding complicate efforts to keep schooling and health services in step with the rising number of children. The pace of fertility decline will largely determine how heavy that future burden becomes.

Mozambique is the world's 45th most populous country, home to about 36.1 million people in 2026. A country of Eastern Africa, its trajectory to 2100 is governed by how births, deaths and migration play out. Population density stands at about 47 people for every square kilometre of land.

The defining marker in Mozambique's future is its peak, expected around 2100 at about 104 million. After that the population eases back toward 104 million by 2100, having passed through 63.0 million at mid-century. It is projected to pass the 100 million mark around 2092.

Half of Mozambique is currently younger than about 16, but by 2100 the median age is projected to reach around 34, while life expectancy, near 64 years, keeps rising. 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.

With about 4.69 births per woman, Mozambique still has one of the higher fertility rates in the world, driving fast expansion. Emigration adds a further drag, as departures outnumber arrivals year to year.

These figures follow the UN's medium variant, the most widely cited scenario. The low and high variants, driven mainly by differing fertility assumptions, fan out into a wide range by 2100, so treat each number as a central estimate rather than a precise forecast.